Local organization providing free school supplies for Jefferson County students
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RIGBY — One local organization is making sure students in its community are ready for the new school year by providing them with free supplies.
Pay it Forward Jefferson County, a division of the Giving Cupboard in Rigby, will be distributing free backpacks and bags full of school supplies to Jefferson County students who are in need. The event, known as We’ve Got Your Back, will take place Aug. 20 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Giving Cupboard, located at 153 N. 3900 E. in Rigby.
“This is going to be our biggest distribution,” Cheryl Hively, director of Pay it Forward Jefferson County, told EastIdahoNews.com. “The need continues to grow and we’ve been really blessed that we can grow with that need.”
They currently have 181 backpacks full of supplies and countless bags, instead of backpacks, for the high school-age kids ready to be handed out. There are items such as pencil boxes filled with crayons, glue sticks, pens, scissors, erasers, markers and colored pencils. Plus, spiral notebooks, binders, filler paper and composition notebooks.
“We went through the school district’s list, and while each grade might have some very specific things, we took out the most basic of things that we were pretty confident that pretty much all the kids would need,” she said.
Supplies were donated by the Rigby South Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who held a school supply drive, both Rigby Good 2 Go gas stations donated funds and Pay It Forward Jefferson County also received a few grants.
Due to COVID-19, supplies will be distributed via a drive-thru line. Tables will be set out outside with the items arranged by Kindergarten through fifth grade, sixth grade through eighth grade and then high school grades.
“Families will drive up and tell us what grades they need, and if we can give them the color (of the backpack) they want, we’ll do that too,” Hively said.
Students don’t need to be present when parents pick up the supplies.
“Please come. We have a lot of supplies this year,” Hively explained. “If we run out of the 181 that we have packed up, we will order more backpacks and we’ll get more ready.”
For more information on Pay It Forward Jefferson County, click here.
