It’s that time of year when parents and kids go back to school shopping.
But, it’s a cost that not everyone is prepared to pay… especially when you consider the price of school supplies went up 12 percent this year.
The Stamford community came together to make sure students start this school year with everything they’ll need to succeed with their Back to School Shop.
Eight-year-old Jaden Valez’s shopping bag was full.
"Shoes, socks, a coat, toothbrush, toothpaste, and I got a coat, I got pants, and a shirt," he said.
145 kids in need sorted through containers of calculators and crayons, tried on shoes, picked out pencils, and even got a brand new winter coat.
"At the store you need to buy stuff, but it’s free here," Valez said.
Stamford's “Back to School Shop” is an idea Jane Levene and Meryl Japha dreamed up two years ago.
“It makes them feel like they’re just like all the other kids and nothing here says oh you got that somewhere donated. They just go shopping, they’re going shopping!” Lavene said.
As the kids shop, their families were able to get information on area social services and sign up for a library card.
"There’s about 53 percent of this community that’s considered economically disadvantaged," Lavene said. "That’s a huge need in a town like Stamford, you just don’t expect something like that.”
Jaden, his sister Jenna, and four cousins are being raised by their grandmother. With school supplies now averaging $100 per pupil, buying new supplies for everyone is not an option.
“It’s tough. People lose their jobs, parents can’t support their kids, parents can’t things that their kids want, you know kids go in the store and they see something," Deborah Lowe, Jaden's grandmother, said.
“I think it’s great," Jenna Valez, 9, of Stamford, said. “There’s like a lot of good stuff here.”
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Dr. Winifred Hamilton, Stamford superintendent, said, “One of the joys we have in education is to see the smile on a child’s face. To see delight. Because when there’s happiness and delight the doors open to so many other possibilities.”
Para-facilitator Elisha Hernandez is one of 150 volunteers. She got emotional watching her students pick out their new supplies.
“I see that they’re so happy just to get something new for back to school," Elisha Hernandez, a volunteer, said.
A feeling every child should have.
The event was for one day only.
But, the group hopes to expand the program to more Stamford students next year.
