A line of excited children waited patiently for their turn to get coats, hats and school supplies at the annual Back To School! Store held Sunday, Aug. 4 at Temple Israel. The event helps provide 2,100 elementary school children in underserved communities in the St. Louis area with school essentials.
Back To School! Store is one of the signature programs of the St. Louis chapter of National Council of Jewish Women. Before the kids entered to get their supplies, Phyllis Langsdorf, president of NCJW-STL, welcomed elected officials and supporters.
“Nearly 500 volunteers worked to make the event a success,” Langsdorf said. “Over 24 years, we have served over 27,000 children. This year, once again, we were able to add two parts to our story. We successfully delivered into the community through volunteer drivers to over 1,000 children who now have access to everything in the store.
“Now the exciting part starts,” she continued. “We are going to be bringing another 1,000 children into the store and they are going to each receive backpacks, school supplies, coats, hats, gloves, socks, shoes, books, and more. It is our goal at NCJW that every child who comes through the store leaves to be prepared to start the school year.”
During the drive-through delivery portion of Back To School! Store, volunteers from local labor unions assisted in loading supplies in cars. Jake Hummel, president of AFL-CIO said, “It seemed like a good thing to be able to give back to the community. Labor unions traditionally have been supportive of hundreds and thousands of community service projects. We’re not usually very good about talking about it. We just like to go do it and get it done.”
Desiree Whitlock from the office of the St. Louis County Executive was also on hand and said the event was a good way of supporting the community.
“There is such a great need and a lot of kids are having to do without,” Whitlock said. “Having this opportunity to get all the things they need in order to start school is so awesome. I just thank you all for providing this type of services for the community.”
