United Way of Cass-Clay Want Help to Reach Goal of 6,000 Backpacks

The organization has received just over 3,400 backpacks.

FARGO, N.D.- July has been a busy month for United Way of Cass- Clay.

The organization has been holding their annual school supply drive in the midst of a pandemic.

“The need this year with the pandemic may be far greater than we could have ever anticipated and regardless of how students are returning back to school this fall, they need those tools to learn and so this program will equip our students in need and our community with those resources,” Tiffany McShane, the Director of Community Engagement at United Way of Cass-Clay said.

McShane says due to COVID-19, the organization has had to reduce the amount of volunteers to 25 per shift as well as making sure they are wearing masks and social distancing.

“The other aspect of the event that is changing is our distribution. We know that we can’t bring the amount of individuals that need access to those supplies to the Fargodome this year, so we have partnered with each of the local metro school districts to coordinate individual distributions at those school districts in our community,” McShane adds.

Volunteers like Mary Roehl, have been working since yesterday to gather all the donations they have received from organizations as well as community members.

“In times like these when people are scared or there’s people that can’t physically come out because of different conditions, it makes it more important for those of us that don’t have those conditions or don’t have the anxieties to come out and really give back because some people can’t. And that’s what communities are really made of,” Roehl says.

Roehl says she doesn’t want kids to feel like they can’t achieve their fullest potential because of something they can’t control.

“For kids in the community that don’t have everything that they need, this is a very powerful way for us to give back and show them that it’s ok if you don’t have everything, you can still be confident and prepared to go to school,” she adds.

The organization is expecting to have more than 600 volunteers take part in the distribution.

Here is the link to donate to the school supply drive.