More than 500 Geauga County children will be able shop for school supplies, get a haircut and have their teeth checked this year through a program coordinated by Geauga County Job and Family Services.
“Help Me Learn Day,” held Aug. 10, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the JFS offices on Ravenwood Drive, will give children a chance to shop donated school supplies for the 2018-2019 school year.
The “Back to School Clothes Closet and Cuts for Kids” event, held at the same time in the parking lot of Morning Star Friends Church on state Route 44, is a chance for families to pick out free, gently-used clothes for the school year, and barbers and stylists from La Barberia Institute of Hair and Marci’s Hair on the Square will provide free haircuts.
A second Help Me Learn Day will take place Aug. 14 at Chagrin Falls Park Community Center. At that event, a University Hospitals truck will also provide free dental checkups and teeth cleaning.
Families must demonstrate a financial need to qualify and pre-register through JFS to participate in the event.
At the July 10 commissioners meeting, JFS Community Support/Volunteer Coordinator Sara Shininger told Geauga County Commissioners the event is supported entirely through donations.
“There are businesses, churches, civic groups, individuals who will either make a monetary donation to the program or they’ll donate actual school supplies,” she said.
Shininger said she starts shopping for school supplies in June and, while most school supplies can be found at a discount, it can be hard to shop for electronic items like graphing calculators and headphones or earbuds.
“School supply lists continue to grow because schools have tightening budgets,” she added, the cost for items that schools used to provide is now being passed on to families.
“Kids from every community and every school district in the county have participated in this program,” Shininger told commissioners. “From Thompson down to Chagrin Falls and from Chardon down to Parkman, there isn’t one community or one school district that hasn’t been represented or hasn’t benefited from it.”
When Shininger took over the event, she wanted to make it less of a giveaway and instead give children the feeling of being able to shop for supplies the way her own children did.
“My kids probably take it for granted,” Commissioner Tim Lennon said. “New shoes, new books, new clothes. This is a confidence type thing – even a haircut for a kid, going in for his first day of school, it’s a big deal.”
Commissioner Walter “Skip” Claypool asked Shininger if she would be willing to attend a meeting of the Rotary Club of Chesterland, where he serves as vice president. The group, he said, is made up of generous people who might like to make their own donations of time or money.
After Lennon offered a financial donation of $1,000, Claypool also encouraged Shininger to create a list of needed supplies that people who want to help could be purchase.
“I can buy five boxes of crayons, I can buy five backpacks – not everybody is as well to do as Tim (Lennon) here,” he joked, “but everybody can do something.”
Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri agreed with Lennon that the commissioners’ office could organize a drive for employees to bring in supplies or donations.
Checks for the purchase of school supplies can be made out to Special Services of Geauga County and mailed to Geauga County Job and Family Services, 12480 Ravenwood Drive, Chardon, OH 44024.
For questions about donating or volunteering, or to pre-register for a voucher for the event, call Shininger at 440-285-9141, ext. 1263.
