Annual Conference service project collects school supplies for Charlotte.

The 2013 Witness to the Host City at the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference will benefit Classroom Central, an organization that distributes free school supplies in the host city of Charlotte, N.C.

“Following last year’s overwhelmingly successful drive to bring school supplies for St. Louis schools in need, we will again be collecting school supplies this year for Classroom Central in Charlotte,” said an announcement from the Conference Office.

The mission of Classroom Central, which got its start through a team of local business leaders in 2000, is to equip students living in poverty to effectively learn by collecting and distributing free school supplies. It functions as a free store for teachers, and is characterized as an “invaluable resource” for area students and classrooms. The vision of the organization includes ensuring that all children living in poverty have all the tools they need to not only learn but to succeed. “When equipped with the proper supplies, we believe there’s no limit to what children can achieve.”

Classroom Central serves high-poverty schools in six school districts: Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Gaston, Iredell-Statesville, Union, Kannapolis, and Lancaster. All materials distributed are given to students who do not have basic school supplies. Last year Classroom Central distributed more than 379,000 pens, 632,000 pencils, and 67,000 one-subject notebooks.

The Annual Conference officers are asking each Conference-goer to bring one or more of the following suggested items to keep the program well stocked:

• pens (one package)
• pencils (two packages)
• crayons (24 count box)
• erasers (8-count)
• markers (one package)
• back pack (gender-neutral in color)

The items will be collected during the Sunday afternoon worship at the Conference, on June 30, and will be presented to the executive director of Classroom Central in front of the Conference at the close of business on Tuesday afternoon July 2. Find out more about Classroom Central at www.classroomcentral.org.

Source: 4/18/2013 Newsline