The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Township students and their parents gathered August 26 at the township’s Gazebo for what is becoming an annual tradition: the distribution of backpacks filled with school supplies.
The effort was undertaken by Franklin Township Police Department’s Community Relations Bureau and PBA Local 154, the Community Baptist Church, the school district and state Assemblyman Joe Danielsen (D-17)
FTPD Sgt. Rebecca Lea said bureau members “thought it would be a good idea to get everything out to kids.”
Lea said the backpacks were filled with items such as “notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons, rulers, glue sticks. All the stuff you need to do well in school and be successful.”
Danielsen, who also runs his own backpack drive, said “the fact that people are showing up is evidence of the need to help our children prepare for school and set them up for success.”
Jamin Powell, senior pastor at Community Baptist Church, said his congregation wanted to help local students.
“We’re here to assist, along with the Franklin Township Police Department and the Board of Education to pour into the lives of our students here by way of book bags and supplies,” he said. “It’s been a challenging year and we’re getting ready to go into another challenging school year, so anything we can do to ensure their academic and scholastic success, we want to be a part of it as Community Baptist.”
Schools Superintendent John Ravally said the district has been participating in the drive for about five years.
“Anytime we can get supplies in students’ hands that ready them for learning, we’re all in,” he said.
“It’s too bad we weren’t able to do it in the schools just yet, because we’re still preparing them, but that’s where we do our best.”
