Posted 11:44 pm Tuesday, July 17, 2012
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PATH’s School Supply Train Seeks Donations
By REBECCA HOEFFNER
Staff Writer
The School Supply Train with People Attempting to Help (PATH) is picking up steam.
Donations of school supplies are being collected at fire stations around Tyler, and the “Bikers Rule 4 School” event is slated for Saturday.
“Education is so important,” said Orrin Latch, owner of Latch Lone Star Harley-Davidson in Tyler, an event sponsor. “The last thing we want kids to have to worry about is having school supplies.”
Staff Writer
The School Supply Train with People Attempting to Help (PATH) is picking up steam.
Donations of school supplies are being collected at fire stations around Tyler, and the “Bikers Rule 4 School” event is slated for Saturday.
“Education is so important,” said Orrin Latch, owner of Latch Lone Star Harley-Davidson in Tyler, an event sponsor. “The last thing we want kids to have to worry about is having school supplies.”
At the “Bikers Rule 4 School” event, more than 500 bikers from around East Texas will ride together throughout Smith County to raise awareness of PATH’s School Supply Train drive.
“It’s quite a sight to behold,” Mrs. Duncan said.
Bikers will meet at Broadway Square Mall beginning at 8 a.m. and leave the parking lot at 10 a.m.
Becky Duncan, community outreach coordinator for PATH, said the organization calculates the need for school supplies by the number of students in Tyler ISD who receive free and reduced-cost meals. The need is increasing — the number jumped to 22,000 this year, she said. In 2011, PATH distributed more than 95,000 school supplies to all the public schools in Smith County.
“I’d love it if we could hit 100,000 like we did three years ago,” she said.
This year’s list of needed school supplies includes 24 packs of Crayola crayons, colored pocket folders with brads, wide and college-ruled spiral notebooks, wide- and college-ruled filler paper, Fiskars blunt-tip scissors, blue or black pens, five-tab dividers, No. 2 pencils, wooden rulers, Elmer’s glue sticks or liquid glue, 2-inch binders, pink beveled erasers, construction paper, highlighters and Crayola three-pack bold color markers.
The fire stations accepting supply donations are at 218 E. Elm St.; 5505 Old Bullard Road; 309 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.; 1532 S. Bennett; 2804 Van Highway; 344 Troup Highway; 3131 Shiloh Road; 2502 Old Omen Road; 1718 W. Houston St.; and 9111 Paluxy Drive.
Monetary donations and school supplies also are accepted at the PATH office, 402 W. Front St., Tyler. Call 903-617-2820 or visit www.pathhelps.org for more information.
“It’s quite a sight to behold,” Mrs. Duncan said.
Bikers will meet at Broadway Square Mall beginning at 8 a.m. and leave the parking lot at 10 a.m.
Becky Duncan, community outreach coordinator for PATH, said the organization calculates the need for school supplies by the number of students in Tyler ISD who receive free and reduced-cost meals. The need is increasing — the number jumped to 22,000 this year, she said. In 2011, PATH distributed more than 95,000 school supplies to all the public schools in Smith County.
“I’d love it if we could hit 100,000 like we did three years ago,” she said.
This year’s list of needed school supplies includes 24 packs of Crayola crayons, colored pocket folders with brads, wide and college-ruled spiral notebooks, wide- and college-ruled filler paper, Fiskars blunt-tip scissors, blue or black pens, five-tab dividers, No. 2 pencils, wooden rulers, Elmer’s glue sticks or liquid glue, 2-inch binders, pink beveled erasers, construction paper, highlighters and Crayola three-pack bold color markers.
The fire stations accepting supply donations are at 218 E. Elm St.; 5505 Old Bullard Road; 309 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.; 1532 S. Bennett; 2804 Van Highway; 344 Troup Highway; 3131 Shiloh Road; 2502 Old Omen Road; 1718 W. Houston St.; and 9111 Paluxy Drive.
Monetary donations and school supplies also are accepted at the PATH office, 402 W. Front St., Tyler. Call 903-617-2820 or visit www.pathhelps.org for more information.
