Page 123 - 2018 B2SI Recap Binder

WBBM Radio: 8/8/18
Free School Supply Kits Distributed To Needy Chicago Children
LISA FIELDING
AUGUST 08, 2018 - 2:10 PM
CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Four semi trucks filled with school supplies lined up outside the Broadway Park Armory early Wednesday morning. A forklift dropped off hundreds of boxes filled with school supply kits.
"This is our biggest event of the year. We're giving out 10,000 of our signature back-to-school kits to children from low income families through the state. Today we are also hosting about 350 kids from the YMCA, The Vietnamese Association of Illinois, The Chicago Park District and The Boys and Girls Club of Chicago," said Matthew Kurtzman, CEO, Back2School Illinois.
"There are about 1.2 million kids in Illinois that live in low income households every year so that's who we focus our efforts on. So we partner with a lot of government agencies, as well as community organizations to distribute the kits to those who fall into that category."
350 children, ages 6-12, from all over the city were bussed to the Edgewater neighborhood to get their kits and take part in activities at the Armory.
"There are four different kits. Each one is grade appropriate. Each kit has about 30 of what we call your core of basis supplies. The younger kids will get construction paper and crayons. The older kids will get things like a ruler, protractor, lined paper, notebooks and folders, etc.," Kurtzman said.
WBBM Newsradio/Lisa Fielding
Dylan Cooper, 7, will be a second grader at Goudy Technology Academy this fall.
"There's a ruler, color pencils, scissors, Kleenex in case I need some tissue, paper, book and binders," she names off what she received in her supply kit.