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View Winners → Education Aug 04, 2023
| Photo courtesy of Riverside County
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As more than 300,000 children in the Riverside area get ready for the upcoming school year, the county is hosting an event that features free backpacks and school supplies, officials said Tuesday.
To help ease the financial burden of back-to-school expenses, the Riverside County Department of Child Support Services will be open its Riverside branch office, 2081 Iowa Ave., Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon.
“If you are a parent looking for resources and support, we invite you to join us for a day of education, information, and community,” officials said in a statement. “We can work towards a brighter future for our children and families.”
The event will feature presentations and educational workshops on child support services, community resources and employment opportunities for ready-to-hire candidates, according to the county.
“Each attendee will receive a bag containing Riverside County and local parent resource packets, including school supplies,” officials said. There will also be entertainment and refreshments.
The lead sponsor of the Backpack Giveaway is Food 4 Less, which donated more than $5,000 for the prepackaged children’s snacks, food, water, school supplies, notebook paper, pencils, crayons, markers and other items.
Community Action Partnership and Altura Credit Union also provided backpacks and school supplies for the giveaway, which is for students ages 3-17.
“With many families struggling more than ever because of the pandemic or inflation, it is important that we come together,” Kimberly Britt, director of Riverside County Child Support Services, said in a statement. “We are committed to partnering with both parents to provide essential child support services to families.”
The backpack giveaway event celebrates August as Child Support Awareness Month, officials said.
Child Support Services serves more than 83,000 children and families throughout Riverside County, and last year the agency “collected and redistributed over $185 million for families in the community,” officials said.
Backpacks and school supplies will be available to students on a first-come, first-serve bases, according to the county. To register and learn about the giveaway event and other upcoming DPCSS events in Riverside County visit www.RivCoDCSS.com.
Office of Education holds Back-to-School Resource Fair
The Riverside County Office of Education hosted its Back-to-School Resource Fair at Harvest Christian Fellowship Church in Riverside on Friday.
Students received items and services that included new shoes, backpacks with school supplies, haircuts, physicals, eye exams and dental care.
According to the Office of Education, the Back-to-School Resource Fair aims to provide homeless youth, young people at risk of homelessness or children in foster care with all they need to be prepared for the first day of school. The idea is to remove some of the barriers often caused by their lack of stable housing.
“Preparing for the first day of school can be a difficult challenge for families and students. The rising costs of school supplies and the expectations to prepare for a new year can be stressful,” Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Edwin Gomez said in a statement. “A sense of physical and emotional wellness, and even a new pair of shoes or a backpack, can help build confidence for students and set a positive tone for the rest of the school year. We are grateful for our partners who have donated to this event. Their generous contributions of services, supplies, and support, will help give our students the confidence to step into a new school year with higher levels of self-esteem and readiness to learn this school year.”
Soles4Shoes, which officials described as a global nonprofit that fights the “impact and perpetuation of poverty,” donated 1,250 pairs of shoes and 4,000 pairs of socks and had volunteers on-site in a “pop-up shoe store.”
The county noted that Kaiser Permanente held a backpack drive at the company’s three Riverside County medical centers. Over 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies were received from employees, patients and Kaiser vendors.
Donations were also made by Sam’s Club, Supply Bank, Harvest Church and In-N-Out Burger.
Services for students were provided by practitioners from Riverside University Health Systems, GeriSmiles and Vision2Learn and cosmetology students from the Professional Institute of Beauty and the Advance Beauty Techs Academy, officials said. “In addition, more than 35 community agencies will be on hand to provide information to families and students.”
