The 11th annual "Back to School Shop" allowed children from lower-income families to pick out clothes, shoes, backpacks and school supplies.
The children of the JCC Sara Walker Nursery School in Stamford, ranging in age from two to four years old, have chosen to donate the money they collected throughout the school year to the local non-profit, Back to School Shop, Inc. Each week the nursery children bring a donation (“tzedakah”) to school, and with the help of their teachers they decide where they would like their accumulated donations to go. Since the inception of Back to School Shop, the children have often chosen the organization as a beneficiary of their charitable giving.
Desire Riddick, a rising third-grader at Domus Trailblazers Academy, smiled on Sunday pointing to a pair of glittery sneakers with blue, purple and pink zig zags, which she plans to wear on the first day of school Sept. 1.
Most everyone can remember the excitement of shopping for new school clothes, the squeak of new tennis shoes, and all those new shiny pencils and smooth, clean notebooks. Unfortunately, for some children in the Stamford community, their caregivers are unable to provide those items for them in order to head back to school with their heads held high.
One of the city’s elementary schools will turn into a department store this weekend. Shelves will be stocked with clothes, sneakers, school supplies, books and other items. But there will be no price tags.
Plans are coming together for the 2nd annual Back to School Shop event. Volunteers are being recruited, funds are being raised, and lots and lots of school clothes and supplies are being purchased so that each child will be able to find just what they are looking for at the event’s “pop-up” store on July 31st.
The Back to School Shop, a new, all volunteer community event was launched on Sunday, August 9, at Davenport Ridge Elementary School in Stamford, CT. One hundred and twenty-five children from Stamford Public elementary schools were able to “shop” free of charge for brand new back-to-school outfits and school supplies in a department store-like setting, created just for them. Over 150 trained volunteers helped to make the event a resounding success.
The Back to School Shop, a new, all volunteer community event was launched on Sunday, August 9, at Davenport Ridge Elementary School in Stamford, CT. One hundred and twenty-five of the most economically disadvantaged elementary school children from Stamford Public elementary schools were able to “shop” free of charge for brand new back-to-school outfits and school supplies in a department store-like setting, created just for them.
A major sale at Target or Walmart or anywhere, really, had nothing on the one-day shopping spree 125 city kids got to experience Sunday at the first “Back to School Shop.”
It’s that time of year when parents and kids go back to school shopping. But, it’s a cost that not everyone is prepared to pay… especially when you consider the price of school supplies went up 12 percent this year. The Stamford community came together to make sure students start this school year with everything they’ll need to succeed with their Back to School Shop.
In recent days I keep thinking about the old kids game of tin can telephone, where friends and I talked to one another across taut strings or wires. The message, of course, always got garbled as the line got longer. We can now communicate globally with no wires attached, but the message still gets distorted.
So I thought this was pretty cool. It’s called the “Back to School Shop“. It’s a pop-up department store that was created to help disadvantaged elementary school students pick-up their own back to school items and get some new clothes for the first day or two of school.
