PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Members of a local organization associated with making life better for children on an international level decided the beginning of the 2012-13 school year was a good time to assist children within their own communities with a donation of school supplies.
“We’ve talked about this for the past few months. Children have so many needs that often go unnoticed — things like socks, underwear, snacks, school supplies. That’s why the club wanted to step up,” said Shawn Cunningham, a member of the Presque Isle Kiwanis Club. “It really does take a village to raise a child.”
Cunningham and fellow Kiwanians Penny McHatten, Diane Green, Michelle Cushman and Club President LaNiece (Winslow) Sirois made a special visit to Pine Street Elementary School in Presque Isle in September to present school officials with much-needed school supplies for the students.
Principal Loretta Clark said it’s important to address such needs.
“Every child should feel that they fit in with their peers. We’re trying to make sure every child comes to school and has no worries,” said Clark.
McHatten said she and Sirois shopped at several local stores to find the best deals.
“We were amazed how much $500 could buy. We priced around, finding what we wanted at Marden’s, Walmart and Staples,” said McHatten.
Clark said she’ll work with Holly Vigue, guidance assistant at Pine Street, to determine how to distribute the mountain of school supplies. Items donated by the club included notebooks, pencils, crayons, glue sticks, colored pencils, erasers and more.
Cunningham said it this was a tri-club activity, with Kiwanians in Caribou and Easton also purchasing school supplies for their respective school systems.
“This was a three-club, three-community effort. The Easton and Caribou clubs teamed with their school districts to purchase needed items for their students,” said Cunningham.
Clark said this was a wonderful opportunity to give the youngest students a positive beginning for their school year.
“This gives the little ones a positive start,” Clark said.
Cunningham said it’s important to “give kids the basics.”
The principal said with each school year, parents are given a list of items their children will need for school but that often is a problem for cash-strapped families.
“It’s a financial burden for some. They (students) all want what they see on sale — all the publicity generated from television commercials. Every child wants nice, new things, but for some, families just can’t afford it,” said Clark.
McHatten said it’s the same at Christmas — another time when Kiwanians lend a hand to families in need, through food baskets and toy giveaways.
“Our second largest shopping event is back-to-school. The biggest is what we do at Christmas,” said Sirois.
“Kiwanis does care for kids. We’re glad to do it,” said Cunningham.
“It’s all about the kids,” added McHatten.
McHatten said the club holds various fundraisers throughout the year, with monies going toward various projects.
“Our Vegas Fever event raised money for Homeless Services of Aroostook. The Talent Revue raised money for St. Appolonia’s Dental Clinic,” McHatten said.
“We’ve had a busy year,” said Cunningham.
Sirois said Kiwanians like to work closely with the people they’re helping.
“We try to do more hands-on work with agencies and organizations. We do a lot of collections. Homeless Services had a needs list, so we’ve worked to help them with that. We volunteer services too, although we try to focus more on donations,” said Sirois.
