IT SEEMS MORE Barbadians are seeking out charities to help them get their children prepared for back to school on Monday.
And this includes those who are working but finding it difficult to make ends meet.
Two charities revealed yesterday that they had collectively outfitted 733 students from 309 families with school supplies.
This had nothing to do with the efforts of associate clubs of the four major service groups – the Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis and Optimists – who have been providing vouchers, hampers and other support to needy families to the extent that two leading businesses said it had been a fillip for their operations.
Variety, the Children’s Charity, confirmed it had so far outfitted 282 students from 195 families with uniforms, socks, shoes, bags and stationery (such as pens, pencils, crayons, geometry sets, rulers and erasers) at a cost of about $70 000.
This represented 84 more children than last year when they helped 198 from 118 families.
In conjunction with Digicel, one of its corporate partners, Variety will also ensure between 50 to 60 boys get haircuts. It will also provide a girl with alopecia (a hair loss ailment) to acquire a special wig.
The Progressive Optimist Club also reported it had assisted 451 children from 114 families with uniforms, primary school textbooks and stationery. The group did this from the new and pre-owned clothes and other supplies it received from their first National Uniform And Back-To-School Supplies Drive held last month.
