An Independence church next week will be helping elementary students in need get a boost before the new school year starts.
Cornerstone Community of Christ Church will dole out school supplies, food, backpacks, and gift certificates for hair cuts to 100 selected students. The event will happen from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 14 at the church, 1316 S. Osage St., said organizer Bud Perrin, a member of Cornerstone.
The students will attend Santa Fe Trail and Benton elementary schools. Social workers there identified the students with the greater need to ensure the legitimacy of their cases.
The kids and their families are essentially homeless, Perrin said.
“There’s just an extreme need out there,” Perrin said.
Last year, the first year for the event, organizers put out an open invitation. They ran out of supplies because of an overwhelming number of people coming out, Perrin said.
“We had 60 kids come through,” Perrin said. “We were expecting 50.”
The kids and their parents will be invited to the church.
They’re going to give them certificates for hair cuts at different salons. The kids will get school supplies, underwear and socks and other clothing, a meal at the event and bags of groceries.
The church is receiving donated funding from area businesses and generous churchgoers to buy the goods.
“We’ll probably spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,500,” Perrin said.
