While children squeal in glee at the prospect of buying their favorite cartoon character printed on every folder, binder and pencil imaginable, parents know all too well the frustratingly high costs that lie behind this excitement.
“What the schools want the kids to have, it’s almost impossible for low-income families to buy,” said Carol Broderick, director of the Venture Churches Food Pantry, run out of the Reformed Church of Bethlehem.
Both the Venture Churches Food Pantry in Selkirk and the Bethlehem Food Pantry are asking for school supply donations to help provision local children in need.
“Just look at the list that the middle school sends out: ear buds, locker stockers, flash drives… It really adds up. It’s not the way it used to be that you just needed a notebook and pen to go to school,” said Director of the Bethlehem Food Pantry Jane Sanders.
Backpacks, notebooks, folders, calculators, locks and other supplies, or cash or check donations to help pay for supplies can be brought to various locations around the town.
Backpacks are the most-needed supply, said both Sanders and Broderick. Broderick says she only had a few backpacks donated last year. Backpacks are often the most expensive item to buy and gently used backpack donations are very appreciated.
As excited students have now received their much-anticipated school lists in the mail, the Bethlehem Food Pantry asks that donations be made by Friday, Aug. 14. Donations to the Venture Churches Food Pantry can be made right through September.
The school supply drives are held annually and supplies are given to children from the Bethlehem Central and Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school districts. Those receiving school supplies from the drive are either served by the food pantry or are referred by the school districts.
“We fill up backpacks with the school supplies they need from the lists they gave us, and then call the families to let them know that they’re backpacks are ready. We try to keep it confidential,” said Sanders of the Bethlehem Food Pantry’s distribution process.
They expect to distribute backpacks full of supplies to about 80 to 100 students this year.
The Venture Food Pantry, on the other hand, has an open school supply closet on Tuesdays for the children of the 80 to 90 families that the pantry serves each month.
This way, said Broderick, “students can pick up those last-minute things that they realize they need after school has started.”
She said a lot of the families who use the pantry have seasonal work in the summertime. About 65 families used the pantry this month.
The Bethlehem Food Pantry also serves about 65 families. These families come from Delmar and Slingerlands, while the Ventures Church Food Pantry serves families in Glenmont, Selkirk and South Bethlehem.
As each pantry serves families with different needs, their processes reflect that. Broderick describes the towns her pantry serves as more “country bumpkin” than the ones the Bethlehem Food Pantry serves.
Because her food pantry is not associated with the town as the Bethlehem Food Pantry is with their partnership with Town of Bethlehem Senior Services, Broderick said she can’t fill in the school supply gaps as easily as they can.
“I have to choose between buying food (for the pantry) or buying school supplies,” she said.
Sanders said she is able to buy supplies for the Bethlehem Food Pantry to fill the gaps in school supply lists using funds from Bethlehem Senior Projects. Bethlehem Senior Projects is a non-profit organization that works to benefit local seniors.
She said they give whatever excess school supplies they receive to the Venture Food Pantry, and they still have some school supplies left over from last year.
“We also bring a box with our extra supplies to all the local schools, just in case they have more kids in need,” said Sanders.
Sanders said that even though people perceive Bethlehem as being fairly affluent, there is actually great need here, and a great many families who are out of work.
Both food pantries said that they have seen the number of families visiting their pantries triple since the economic downturn of 2008, and those numbers have yet to decrease.
“The school supplies are a big help to these families,” said Broderick. “With the cost of food nowadays some of these families are really living on a thin line.”
“Even in families where everyone is working it’s hard to make ends meet,” said Sanders.
Broderick said her pantry needs, “Everything. Everything other than simple spiral notebooks, but everything else I need.” Adding, “Hopefully we’ll get something.”
Sanders listed scientific calculators, highlighters, and locker stockers as some of the Bethlehem Food Pantry’s most-needed items.
Donation locations for the Bethlehem Food Pantry include Bethlehem Town Hall, Bethlehem YMCA, Bethlehem Public Library and Delmar Marketplace.
Donations to the Venture Church King’s can be made at either King’s Chapel in Glenmont, Glenmont Community Church, South Bethlehem Methodist Church, or at the pantry’s location at the First Reformed Church of Bethlehem in Selkirk, near 9W.
The pantry there is open from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays. Appointments are not necessary.
The Bethlehem Food Pantry is run out of Bethlehem Town Hall located at 445 Delaware Ave. in Delmar in the Senior Services department. It is open on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Food and supplies are given monthly, by appointment.
Each pantry is staffed by volunteers. Broderick said some years she’ll get Girl Scout troops or other groups to volunteer, but she hasn’t received any such offers this year. Most pantry volunteers come from the churches that parter with the First Reformed Church of Bethlehem, she said.
The Bethlehem YMCA has partnered with the Bethlehem Food Pantry for their school supply drive for the last three years, and will do so again this year.
“It’s a good thing to do,” said Membership Director Jerry Cunningham. “The YMCA is about community. It’s really great to be able to help out.”
About 10 volunteers — staff, members, and board directors — from the Y will help sort supplies into backpacks at town hall so that families can pick up their backpacks the final week in August.
Those seeking more information about the food pantries can call the Bethlehem Food Pantry at (518) 439-4955, ext. 1173, or visit the First Reformed Church of Bethlehem in Selkirk.
