Help Our Daily Bread provide school supplies for needy children

Susan Lydick, Ben Hester, and Jim Holcombe of the Rotary Club of Bailey’s Crossroads pack and distribute school supplies last year.

With many families in our community struggling to put food on the table, purchasing the required school supplies for their children can be difficult.

Our Daily Bread (ODB), a Fairfax-based charity, along with help from other organizations, corporations, and individuals, is providing backpacks full of school supplies to needy children. Last year, ODB’s Collect for Kids Back to School Program outfitted 783 children in the JEB Stuart and Fairfax high school pyramids. This year, the goal is 2,000 schoolchildren in those schools.

ODB is collaborating with Fairfax County, Fairfax County Public Schools, and a variety of local nonprofit organizations to purchase high-quality school supplies for $15 or less per child through the county’s Collect for Kids program. The same supplies would cost about $40 per child if purchase from retail stores.

The flagship sponsors of the 2013 Collect for Kids Back to School Program are the International Monetary Fund Civic Program, which provided a $7,000 grant that will assist more than 460 children, and the Rotary Club of Bailey’s Crossroads, which for the second year is partnering with ODB to provide school supplies to children at Bailey’s Elementary School. Last year, the Rotary Club donated backpacks stuffed with school supplies to students at Bailey’s, Glasgow Middle School, and Stuart High School.

Anyone interested in helping is encouraged to make a donation through ODB’s secure website or mail a check to Our Daily Bread, 4080 Chain Bridge Road, Second Floor, Fairfax, VA 22030.

Donations of new backpacks and gently used scientific calculators are also welcome. They may be brought to ODB’s offices through Aug. 12, Mondays through Fridays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. They may also be ordered and shipped directly to ODB through “wish lists” on Amazon and DollarDays. For more information on donating or sponsoring the program, contact 703-273-8829 or [email protected].

The public may also support the Collect for Kids Back to School Program by attending Red, Wine and Blues at the Winery at Bull Run on July 28, 3-5 p.m. The event includes a  wine tasting, food from the BBQ Brothers, live music, and a raffle for a weekend getaway for two.