The Foothill Unity Center prepared more than 1,000 K-12 pre-registered students of qualified low-income families from Altadena, Arcadia, Azusa, Baldwin Park, Duarte, Irwindale, Monrovia, Pasadena, Sierra Madre, and South Pasadena at the 18th annual Back to School event on Tuesday. The event was hosted at the historic Santa Anita Park Racetrack.
Families who use the services at Foothill Unity Center have incomes at or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Line and do not have the funds to furnish their children with the items they need to return to school.
Consequently, the Foothill Unity Center each year assists these children with brand new backpacks, school supplies, clothing, shoe cards, haircuts, manicures, books, and vision, dental, and hearing screenings. New to this year’s event was a college area where 11 colleges offered potential scholarships and information on higher education.
The entire community shares in this annual effort, with more than 400 volunteers from businesses, schools, and community groups. Volunteers included over 100 cosmetologists and cosmetology students from Citrus College, who provided the children with haircuts and manicures.
In addition, teachers and students from the Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC provided dental screenings. Vision screenings were provided by Western University, Northwest University, and TzuChi Foundation.
Monrovian family Restaurant provided lunch for the event’s volunteers; Panda Restaurant Group provided snacks for the children; interactive displays from the Harris Corporation and craft activities by Paint N ’Play Art Studio were also available.
