CLEVELAND — At 3News, we take our “Education Station” reputation seriously, and that’s what motivated our employees to spend the past month collecting school supplies for Cleveland students.
Backpacks, notebooks, folders, pens, crayons, paper – our employees donated carloads of supplies necessary for a successful school year and brought it all to Morningstar Baptist Church in Cleveland, where the Buckeye Thrives Community Resource Fair was held Aug. 18.
The free event, attended by 300+ neighborhood residents, was designed to connect families to a variety of resources such as health screenings, utility assistance, haircuts, and employment opportunities.
“We are trying to let the people in the Buckeye Woodland area know that the resources are there for them,” said Buckeye Thrives executive assistant Vanessa J. Smith during an interview on We The People, WKYC Studios’ community engagement show.
Smith said during her interview that the Buckeye Thrives organization had found that many Cleveland students were going to school without basic school supplies.
And that’s why WKYC Studios staff decided to step in, especially because our adopted school, Harvey Rice Wraparound, is located in the Buckeye community.
Our team donated 250 backpacks filled with school supplies, which were all given away at the Buckeye Thrives event. 3News Reporter and Anchor Kaitor Kay served as the emcee for the event.
In addition to passing out backpacks, WKYC Studios partnered with Literacy in the H.O.O.D. to give away books to families at the resource fair and to sign attendees up for the Cleveland Reads challenge.
We want to say a special thank you to the Strongsville Walmart and store manager James Kincaid for donating school supplies for the giveaway.