On August 14th, staff from The Reva and David Logan Foundation (RDLF) and children from Common Pantry’s “Common Kids” program volunteered at the second week of the pantry’s school supply distributions.
Common Pantry had supplies pre-assembled and ready to hand out to the families in line. Each child received a backpack and a school supply kit tailored to their grade level; for example, students in grades 4-6 received pencils, colored pencils, crayons, markers, glue sticks, scissors, a ruler, notebooks, and folders. Each child also received a book donated by the Lakeview YMCA and some candy to take home.
The RDLF has donated the majority of the school supplies used in Common Pantry’s distributions since 2020. Our donations increased from last year, but the need has increased even more so. Less than halfway through their second distribution, almost all of the school supplies we provided were gone.
Common Pantry was able to serve 390 children through this year’s school supply distributions, which ran concurrently with their weekly full client choice grocery distribution that any person within Cook County can visit once a month. In the winter, RDLF also provides donations for their winter gear distributions through our Winter Wear program.