This past weekend seems to have marked the unofficial start to the
Back to School sales.
This means that there are going to be many opportunities to pick up some FREE and almost FREE school supplies.
If you check in here with me each week I will be posting the best back to school deals at stores like Staples, CVS, Walgreens, Office Depot, and more as they come up.
I like to take this opportunity each year to stock up on what I think we will need throughout the year. I do know from past experiences that I will be able to stock up on more than enough supplies for my family without spending hardly anything at all!
Even after I know I have gotten enough for my family, I will still pick up anything that will be FREE or close to free for me. There are many ways that you can bless others by grabbing a few extra packs of crayons or pencils while you are out. You would not believe how much a box of crayons would mean to another child.
This is also a great time to teach your children to be giving, thoughtful, caring, gracious, and most of all loving.
Allowing your children to shop for some extra supplies will help them to learn to see beyond themselves.
Once you have all of the extra supplies you’ll need to consider where to give them. You might want to contact your school first as they will know which children are most in need of help. You could also check women’s or homeless shelter’s.
This year my family and I are doing whatever we are able to gather school supplies for a wonderful organization called Big Family of Michigan!
“Big Family’s Child Advocate Program provides Adoption Recruiting, Instruction, Services and Esteem for Michigan’s adoptable children. They sponsor Birthday Parties, Teddy Bears, Christmas Gifts, One Church One Child, the Birthday Bear Programs, Hero Parties, just to name a few of the events they do, because they feel strongly about the fact that every child is born special and deserves a chance to become part of a family.”
This organization does so much for the children that most people don’t see, including supplying them with the school supplies they need to start school and throughout the year too!
So again I encourage you to use this special time of the year to bless others with your abundance. And never think that you don’t have enough to offer, every little bit counts!
Here’s an article I wrote a couple of years ago you might find interesting.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
When I get the school supplies free with rebate I buy them and take them to the school I retired from or give them to neighbors who dont have a lot.
When we have an excess of garden beans we bag them in pound bags and take them to church to share—asking $1.00 donation per bag to benefit our Sunday School
Those are great ideas, thanks for sharing them and for sharing your abundance!
I teach middle school where you can count on one hand the number of kids who are not, according to the government free lunch program, living in poverty. I end up buying pencils and paper because I rarely had more than 2 or 3 kids in a class show up with paper or a pencil. It gets really expensive on a teachers salary. I’m already stocking up, and it would be amazing if I had people like ya’ll to help in my classroom.
I know the teachers I’ve been in contact with are always so grateful for any help they can get since like you said they usually end up buying supplies with their own money.
Another place to donate school supplies is Samaritan House on VanDyke in Washington township near 29 mile rd. They are a Christian organization that serves needy people in Northern Macomb County (Washington, Romeo, Shelby twp etc) with food, household, hygiene products etc and also school supplies at the end of summer.
Thanks for this information!
In Monroe County, Mich., the school supply drive involves multiple organizations but is led by the Salvation Army. Parents have to apply by Aug. 1, and the backpacks and other supplies are distributed later in the month. About 2,300 students are expected to be served this year, which would be a new record if they hit that mark.
As Kristie said, if you want to help any school in Michigan, NOW is the time to pick up stuff on the cheap and put it in the donation bins. Our schools start classes late as compared to the rest of the country, which means Michigan parents who wait to see “what they really need” are getting stuck with higher prices.
.-= Monroe on a Budget´s last blog ..Guest post- Going from 0 to 60 in couponing =-.