School Supplies Are Needed:

There is an incredible need to provide underprivileged children with the proper supplies for the new school year. Community of Friends is looking for your help in order to provide the necessary school supplies and school backpacks for 500 children from the Marblehead, Salem, Boston and Lynn communities. These children range in grades from pre-school to seniors in high school. Help these children start the school year with the right tools.

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How You Can Help:

1. Sponsor a Child: You can sign up with Community of Friends to sponsor a child by providing the necessary backpack and/or school supplies for that child. CoF will provide you with a child's first name (if available), gender and grade, plus a list of suggested school supplies by grade.

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Sign-Up Locations:

If you would like to fill a backpack with school supplies and sponsor a specific child-in-need, you can sign up with us at the following locations and dates:

• Marblehead Community Store (214 Beacon Street, Marblehead)
  Friday, July 20, from 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.
  Friday, Aug 03, from 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.
  Friday, Aug 10, from 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.
  
• Crosby's Market (118 Washington Street, Marblehead)
  Saturday, July 21, from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
  Saturday, Aug 11, from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Marblehead Farmer's Market
  Saturday, Aug 04, from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
  

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Drop-Off Locations:

1. Mud Puddle Toys, Corner of Washington and Pleasant streets in Old Town Marblehead. 781-631-0814,
www.mudpuddletoys.com

2. Grossman's Delicatessen, 252 Humphrey Street, Marblehead. (Corner of Seaview and Humphrey),
781-639-4448.

3. Raveis Real Estate - Marblehead, 123 Pleasant Street, Marblehead.
Contact Stephanie Moio, 781-254-9091.

If you have sponsored a child and are dropping off a backpack and/or school supplies, please make sure you have attached the provided Community of Friends tag. If all supplies do not fit into the backpack, you may place the backpack and extra supplies into a larger plastic bag to keep all items together. If you are returning only school supplies, please place all supplies in a paper or plastic bag with handles and attach the tag to the bag.

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Who We Help:

1. Lynn Department of Social Services, Lynn, MA: Through Lynn DSS, Community of Friends has teamed up with two internal charities, Cherish the Children and SAIL, to provide the children with holiday stockings and school backpacks filled with supplies for the new school year.

Cherish the Children is a charity started a few years ago by a Lynn DSS administrative assistant who wanted to provide a little extra for "her" children. Seventy children received filled holiday stockings and backpacks in 2006. This year, we will be providing 85 children with backpacks and school supplies. These children range in ages from pre-school through high school.

SAIL is a program sponsored by Lynn DSS that fosters an independent living environment for local teenagers. These young adults live in a group home, attend school, have their own bank account, cook their own meals, and work at part-time jobs. Fourteen SAIL teens received stockings and backpacks in 2006 and the same number will receive backpacks and school supplies this year.

2. Serving People In Need (SPIN), Lynn, MA: SPIN's mission is to provide temporary, transitional and permanent housing, coupled with support services for young mothers, low income, homeless and at risk individuals and families. Most of the children range in age from newborns through middle school

Community of Friends provided SPIN with 50 school backpacks filled with school supplies and sponsored 90 children for stockings and holiday gifts in 2006. This year, 80 children will receive backpacks and school supplies.

3. Marblehead Food Pantry, Marblehead, MA: We hope to provide 90 school backpacks filled with school supplies for the 2007 school year to the Marblehead Food Pantry. Because these children come from the Marblehead community, where most of our donations are from, the names of the children remain anonymous.

3. Marblehead's METCO children, Boston, MA: CoF provided 17 of the younger school children travelling from Boston communities to Marblehead each day with new backpacks and school supplies. These children are bussed from Boston to Marblehead schools on a daily basis. We intend to provide all of the METCO students with backpacks and supplies for the upcoming school year.

4. St. Joseph's Food Pantry, Salem, MA: We will be providing 200 school backpacks filled with school supplies for the 2007 school year to the older children (7th through 12th grade) affiliated with this food pantry. Community of Friends sponsored 155 children for backpacks for the 2006/2007 school year, as well as 225 children for holiday stockings and other gifts during the 2006 holiday stocking drive.

5. Cornerstone HIV Wellness Center, Lynn, MA: CoF teamed up with Lynn's Cornerstone HIV Wellness Center last year during our Holiday Stocking drive. CoF provided 14 children from 6 families stockings and gifts who are HIV positive or have a parent that is HIV positive. These children come from 4 North Shore communities.

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Types of Backpacks:

For Pre-school through grade 6, it is recommended that all backpacks be of the non-rolling type and should only be carried on the child's back. Backpacks for grades 7 through 12 could be of the rolling or non-rolling type. You should be able to find a reasonably priced backpack at one of the major discount retail stores.

If you would like to provide an ergonomically correct backpack, Dr. Bryan Ruocco, D.C. from Seaport Chiropractic, recommends the Airpacks System Backpack.

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School Supply Suggestions:

Because of the extensive list of suggested school supplies for each group of grades, the list had to be created on a separate sheet of paper. As stated, this is only a suggested list and you are free to put any school supplies and goodies that you feel are deemed appropriate for the sponsored child. You can download the Recommended School Supply List (pdf format) here.

If you have chosen to purchase a backpack as well as the school supplies, it is better to spend less on the backpack and more on the school supplies that go inside of it. When returning the backpack and/or school supplies, please attach the given labeled tag with the child's name to the backpack. If you are returning only school supplies, please place all supplies in a paper or plastic bag with handles and attach the tag to the bag.

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