By: Ashmar Mandou

Three of the top 10 reasons children do not attend school are rooted in clothing insecurity and lack of school supplies. According to the National Retail Federation, families spent a record-high average of $890.07 to get their children ready for school last year, including supplies, clothing, and technology. In an effort to alleviate some of that burden felt by families, Cradles to Crayons (C2C) Chicago is once again helping out students have a successful year by donating backpacks filled with brand new school supplies to over 1000,000 Chicagoland students. Up until the start of the school year, over 60 Service Partners, including Chicago Public Schools, will distribute backpacks, making C2C’s initiative the largest free backpack giveaway in the region. “We are so grateful to our partners and volunteers who are able to make this possible,” said Dawn Melchiorre, executive director of Cradles to Crayons Chicago. “It truly is a joy to be able to help students have a successful school year.” Melchiorre spoke to Lawndale Bilingual News about the financial burden school supplies may have on families and opportunities for residents to get involved in at C2C.

Lawndale Bilingual News: While some families struggle financially to purchase school supplies, why do you think it’s important to provide those items in order for students to have a successful year?

Dawn Melchiorre: Costs are coming in every direction, from house, utilities, food to what it costs to buy a really good backpack. I think everyone harkens back to when they started their first day of school and how excited they were to go pick out their backpack, their lunch box, what kind of colored folders they were going to have and that still resonates with families. So we really see people connecting to that and one of the things we do is we don’t give out just one color backpack. We give out a range of colors, all different kinds of patterns, so that when families go to these back-to-school events the kids really get to pick. It also gives them that dignity and makes them feel good so that they can focus on school.

Lawndale Bilingual News: Are there still opportunities to get involved?

Dawn Melchiorre: Absolutely! There are three great ways to get involved with Cradles to Crayons. I recommend folks go to our website, www.cradlestocrayons.org and on there they can come and volunteer. Tuesdays through Saturdays we have two shifts where people can volunteer. We need about 15,000 volunteers for a year for us to be able to do our work because we are a small team. We ask folks to donate products. If they have gently used clothing, coats, winter accessories, if they have brand new school supplies, they can donate that to us and we have drop-off locations around the city. Or folks can host drives. We have lots of information on hosting coat drives, school supplies drives on our website that they can get involved in, as well.

Lawndale Bilingual News: What advice can you give to students on how to have a successful academic year ahead?

Dawn Melchiorre: I think for them to know that there is a community behind them, there is a city behind them, and an organization behind them, such as us that really cares about them and wants to see them succeed. We want kids to know that in the Chicagoland area there are a lot of people that care about them and want to see them succeed and be excited about learning and finding out about the world around them.

Community members can learn more about how to participate in Ready for Learning through volunteerism and donating essential items at cradlestocrayons.org/chicago/the-latest/events/ready-for-learning/.