Sorority provides book bags for local students

[August 16, 2011]  Seventeen years ago, Beta Sigma Phi sorority, Preceptor Eta chapter, partnered with other community organizations to initiate a book bag project to provide school supplies to Lincoln elementary students, kindergarten through eighth grade. Several years later, the sorority assumed total responsibility for the project. On Monday, representatives of that organization continued the annual tradition by distributing 112 book bags full of school supplies to parents of students from Lincoln School District 27.

Applications for the book bags are collected and screened by the Y. The sorority takes over from that point, coordinating the supply lists and shopping for items. Fliers are hung at the thrift stores, the grocery stores, Lincoln College, Lincoln Christian University -- anywhere that a parent might see the invitation to apply for the school bags. There is no maximum number, and no one will be excluded if they have completed an application and are qualified. 

"When we're ready, some of us go out to Walmart and fill six to eight carts full of school supplies," said organizer Sally Fleshman, "and we have so much they open a special lane for us to check out." For each student receiving a book bag, the local retail store also provides a coupon good for $5 off a pair of gym shoes, and a $5 gift card, to apply to that same purchase.

Contributions of supplies are also provided by Walgreens and D.A.R.E. The Lincoln IGA donates the boxes of tissues needed each year.

Sorority members shop throughout the year when they find sales on school supply items. It is ongoing and continual and is the sorority's main project.

Last Friday evening sorority members, their family members, and as many friends and volunteers as they could gather filled book bags with the necessary items. Four members of the National Honor Society at LCHS -- Abi Ray, Angela Kelley, Jake Olson and Will Conrady -- also volunteered as part of their commitment to community service. Each bag was tagged with a child's name, and supplies reflected the appropriate school and classroom list. 

"The bags are full and contain every item from the official list provided by the schools," Fleshman said. "So when the students go off to school that first day, they know they have everything they need.

"It makes going to school easier for the students, and it makes a big difference to the parents. With registration and school clothes, they have enough to spend, and receiving these items helps them, too.

"Every year we send letters to businesses and other organizations, asking for contributions," Fleshman continued, "and the community never fails to support this project."

(See picture page.)

[By MARLA BLAIR]