South End Community Ramps Up for Back to School

The South End Neighborhood Association (SENA) started ramping up for Back to School at National Night Out and completed its Back to School Basics at the August 27th Neighborhood Association Meeting.  Because of the very generous donations from JAFJR Construction Services and WalMart, we were able to purchase all the school supplies which we distributed to approximately 560 youth during the two events.

In prior years the South End Neighborhood Association distributed school supplies to youth in ziplock bags at National Night Out and the August SENA meeting.

In 2013 our effort to equip youth with the Basic School Supplies to go back to school with was taken to a new level with generous donations of backpacks from the Albany Police Dept., SEFCU, and WellCare.

At the National Night Out event, 280 youth received basic back to school supplies which were put in the back packs donated by SEFCU and Albany Police Department.  We under estimated the number of youth attending the event therefore eighty-six youth registered that they did not receive back packs and supplies at Night Out, those youth were told they would receive school supplies at the South End Neighborhood Association meeting on August 27.

At the SENA meeting on August 27th another 280 youth received school supplies.  The number of youth and families attending the SENA meeting exceeded the capacity of the large meeting room at the Howe Library, but; everyone who came for the Back to School Basics received a back pack or a colorful tote bag, all of which were filled with school supplies.

Some of the basic items purchased for the backpacks included:  single subject tablets, composition notebooks, loose leaf paper, binders, pens, pencils, crayons, colored markers, and colored pencils.  Some youth also received additional items like glue and pencils which were donated by RiteAid and APD.  The 130 backpacks which WellCare donated were prefilled with school supplies and a lunch bag. 

A heartfelt Thank You goes out to all the National Night Out sponsors who made donations to the National Night Out Event and the South End Back to School Basic School Supplies.