School supplies giveaway lends helping hand to elementary students in Newport-Mesa
Since sending students home from the classroom in March, the coronavirus has taken a toll on the socialization of young children.
It has not, however, dampened the spirit of giving in the community.
Countless food distributions have taken place for families in need, and with a new school year on the horizon, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Orange Coast is helping kids get ready.
Families in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District received 200 backpacks filled with helpful items to begin the school year in a back-to-school item distribution at Rea Elementary School in Costa Mesa on Friday afternoon.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Orange Coast serves the cities of Costa Mesa, Irvine, Newport Beach, Orange and Santa Ana. The organization previously gave away 500 backpacks to elementary students in Orange and Santa Ana within the last week.
“This distribution is focused around providing supplies that they’re going to need for their academic support, but the biggest thing that we’re really focused on this year is social-emotional wellness,” said Kristle Duran, the chief operations officer of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Orange Coast.
“Our concern is that these kids are going through a complex trauma, that of course they’re going to need academic support more than ever because of the gap in education caused by this distance-learning model, particularly from the end of last year.”
Newport-Mesa Unified School District will begin its school year online on Monday, but Friday’s school supplies distribution brought smiles.
Anthony Martinez, a 7-year-old going into the second grade at Pomona Elementary, could hardly contain his excitement when he opened his backpack, grinning as if he had just opened a birthday present.
“A ruler!” he exclaimed sorting through the items. “I can measure stuff.”
Anthony added that he is looking forward to learning how to paint and spell words that he could not in the first grade.
Freddy Hernandez, who is going into the second grade at Paularino Elementary, received a backpack with dinosaurs on it. He said his favorite dinosaur is the Indominus Rex, seen in the movie “Jurassic World.”
Patty Hernandez, 33, of Costa Mesa said that Freddy, her son, is eager to return to in-classroom learning.
“It was very [difficult] trying to explain to him, ‘Oh, you’re not going to go to school today, but you are going to school online,’ so that was pretty confusing,” she said of parenting during the pandemic. “Now, he’s kind of like, ‘Oh, when am I going back?”
Leticia Gonzalez, 39, of Costa Mesa brought her four children to Rea Elementary for the back-to-school giveaway. Even her 3-year-old son who is not in school yet did not go home empty-handed, as he left carrying a coloring book.
When the pandemic sent kids home for distance learning, Gonzalez said she had to alter her work schedule so that she could be with her children.
Abiding by the stay-at-home order came with its own set of challenges for Gonzalez’s family.
“[My children are] tired of staying at home, because for us, we live in the top floor in an apartment,” Gonzalez said. “They cannot jump or anything in the building in our apartment because the people in the bottom, they get mad. They like to go to the park, stuff like that.”
David Blair, the director of corporate relations for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Orange Coast, said that backpacks filled with school supplies were assembled by Peter and Helen Maxwell, as well as other members of the Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa.
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