During the last school year, more than 4,000 students were homeless in Santa Cruz County. Sadly, we anticipate this number to continue to climb due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent CZU Lightning Complex fires. We are committed to supporting these students and families with the school supplies they need to start school ready to learn.
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education is delighted to share that in partnership with the United Way of Santa Cruz County we’ve collected thousands of dollars in donations to purchase much-needed pencils, pens, binders, crayons, backpacks, and more, during our annual Stuff the Bus campaign!
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education is proud to announce that 2,000 backpacks have been purchased. The Santa Cruz County Office employee’s alone donated over $10,400 to support this year’s backpack drive. That is more than in any previous year!!
With the help of volunteers, backpacks have been stuffed with school supplies for homeless students, and distributed to local school districts, and other agencies including Court Appointed Special Advocates (C.A.S.A.), Davenport Resource Center, Community Action Board (C.A.B.), Live Oak Resource Center, Big Brother’s Big Sister’s, and Santa Cruz Children’s Mental Health. In our community’s most recent time of need, extra supplies were delivered to the CZU Lightning Complex fire evacuation supply warehouse to support displaced children and families.
Donate to this effort through the United Way of Santa Cruz County here.