A non-profit organization needs volunteers to help kids receive school supplies.
Debbie Ryan and Mary Berkle are two volunteers for Kan Cool for School.
This program started in 2004 when educators noticed that some kids didn’t have the right school supplies that they needed.
Kan Cool for School was created to make sure all kids have the supplies that they need.
“What we do is we give families that are referred to our program through the school system gift certificates for school supplies for $30 and a backpack,” the duo explained during an appearance on the Hello Lakeshore Podcast. “In addition, we box up supplies that we give to all Manitowoc County schools.”
When they first started this non-profit, they relied on grants, donations, and fundraisers to get their supplies.
Now, they have a partnership with Office Max that allows them to give families a $30 Office Max gift card and a backpack, and these gift certificates can be used in the Office Max drive-thru.
They also take steps to make sure kids will have the correct supplies, no matter which school they attend.
Ryan and Berkle noted, “We send letters to all of the schools in the county saying what would you like and how many of each thing would you like to get in your magic closet box, and once we get that information, we try our best to make sure we have those supplies.”
This whole program relies on volunteer work, and right now, they could use some extra helpers.
“We just need a handful of people to work the drive thru, and we pretty much have that covered,” they explained. “What we could really use help with is once we box up all these supplies for the schools, we need somebody to deliver them to each school.”
Anyone interested in helping kids succeed in school can send donations to P.O. Box 2254 in Manitowoc.
For more information or to sign up to volunteer, visit KanCool.org.
