BERKELEY (KRON) — Hundreds of volunteers from SupplyBank.org, Kaiser and the community putting together school supplies for low income students in the Bay Area.
“SupplyBank.org is a lot like a food bank but with supplies,” Benito Delgado-Olson said. “This is our oldest event, his is our first event, this is our 10th year. Some of these families have been coming here for years and years. Their kids started in elementary school, now they’re in high school and they’re still volunteering so this is always just coming home.”
Executive director of SupplyBank.org, Delgado-Olson said they brought in nearly $200,000 worth of school supplies on Sunday.
“It’s dozens of pallets and thousands and thousands of pounds of school supplies, art supplies, everything kids need for reading, writing, arithmetic,” Ron Lee, volunteer, said. “Theres a lot of unfortunate kids that can’t afford to buy your basic things like paper and pencil so this is a good opportunity for me to help out with the community.”
Volunteers like Caden and Danny Rendel helped organize more than 3,000 individual supply kits.
“Picking up boxes and putting them over there,” brothers and volunteers Caden and Danny Rendel said. “Putting supplies in there for school for people that don’t have enough money.”
A majority of the supply kits will go to students in Berkley public schools.
“Everybody recognizes how hard it is to make it in the Bay Area right now,” Delgado-Olson said. “This is certainly just one of many steps that are needed to help kids, ensure they have the best experience they can in the classroom but I think this is really more than anything a reflection of how much this community cares.”