Donations of school supplies sought for Annandale/Mason District students

During Britepath’s 2016 Collect for Kids program, Bailey’s Rotary President Pat Borowski (left) joined Britepaths Seasonal Programs Manager Dawn Sykes (second from left) and volunteers at Oak View Elementary School in Fairfax to pack school supplies for students in the Stuart High School pyramid.

Britepaths is once again working with Fairfax County’s Collect for Kids partnership to assist 2,500 students in need who attend Fairfax County public schools in the Annandale, Falls Church, and Fairfax areas.
Donations of backpacks, school supplies, calculators, and monetary support will assist students who attend 15 schools including these schools in the Annandale/Mason District area: Bailey’s, Beech Tree, Belvedere, Glen Forest, Parklawn, Sleepy Hollow elementary schools; Glasgow and Poe middle schools; and Stuart High School.

Britepaths, a nonprofit organization formerly known as Our Daily Bread, is collaborating with Fairfax County’s Collect for Kids partnership, which includes Kids R First, Fairfax County Public Schools, the Fairfax County Office of Public-Private Partnerships, and local non-profit organizations and businesses.

The Rotary Club of Bailey’s Crossroads is also partnering with Britepaths to help fund and deliver supplies to Bailey’s, Glasgow, and Stuart.

The program hopes to serve as many FCPS students in need as possible by purchasing high-quality school supplies at discounted prices. The partnership allows Britepaths to provide all the supplies a student needs for approximately $15 per student (and often $10 or less for elementary students). Those supplies would cost about $40 more if purchased from retail stores.

Community members interested in helping can make a donation through Britepaths’ secure online donation page or mail a check to 4080 Chain Bridge Road, 2nd Floor, Fairfax VA 22030. Write “BTS” in the memo line.

Donations of new backpacks and scientific calculators are also welcome. They can be brought to Britepaths’ offices Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., through Aug. 5. (The office is closed on July 3 and 4).

Additional local donation drop-off sites, listed on Britepaths’ website, include Westminster School’s Camp Griffin, 3819 Gallows Road, Annandale.

Backpacks may also be ordered and shipped directly to Britepaths through “wish lists” on Amazon.com and DollarDays.com.