During the month of July, in the middle of summer, very few people are already thinking of going back to school. Fortunately, the students at the Ontario campus of Ross Medical Education Center are some of those exceptions to the rule! They know that although children may not have started thinking about back to school, many of their parents had and were worried. Many families struggle to provide their students with the brand new school supplies that they need each year to be successful.
Although parents with school-aged children may have difficulty, that can be increased when those parents are fostering different children at various times and do not have the resources to properly prepare each of them for the new school year. That’s why the students, staff, and faculty at the Ross campus in Ontario decided to conduct a school supply drive during the middle of the summer months to help give these children and their foster families a bit of a head start.
The students in the Ontario campus collected school supplies throughout the month to donate to Richland County Children Services to distribute to foster children going back to school this fall. School age children in foster care in Richland County range throughout the full spectrum of grades and ages from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Ross students brought in a large variety of items from pencils to book covers and folders to glue to help ease the burden of Richland County Children Services and the families who step up and open their homes to children in need. Supplies were distributed before local districts started back to school as early as August 20th.
To learn more about the foster care system and Richland County Children Services as well as how you can help, visit their Facebook page or their website at www.richlandcountychildrenservices.org/.