Back to School Roundup

August 8, 2018

Thanks to a generous community, children served by the local dependency system will return to school this month with backpacks, school supplies, new shoes and hair cuts.

More than 3,000 school supplies were collected during the Stuff the Bus event last month. The event, a partnership among the United Way of St. Lucie County, Communities Connected for Kids and several local businesses, resulted in more than 400 backpacks full of school supplies for children in C.C.Kids' foster-care system.

"This is a volunteer-run project," said Christina Kaiser, community relations director for CCKids and a member of the United Way committee that oversees several back-to-school collections, including Stuff the Bus. "And it's literally a contribution of sweat equity - our volunteers work in the blazing heat to get this done."

Of the backpacks, about 300 were assembled July 31 by the St. Lucie County Property Appraiser's Office (pictured above). The remaining 100 backpacks were donated by various local contributors, including Sunshine Health and others who wish to remain anonymous.

But the generosity doesn't stop there.

Hair Cuttery is expected to contribute 800 free hair-cut vouchers to C.C.Kids, while about 250 Payless Shoe cards will be donated to the organization through the Lil' Feet project.

CCKids is part of both projects and receives donations for children in the dependency system for its participation.