Back to school shopping can be fun but it can also take a bite out of the budget. The Custer County Salvation Army is hosting their annual “Back to School” Giveaway later this month to help lighten that burden.
The Salvation Army will distribute free backpacks and school supplies at the Broken Bow Municipal Building on July 21st from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Debby Moninger and Carol Allen with the Custer County Salvation Army were recent guests on KCNI’s Public Affairs program. Allen said the cost for supplies seems to continue to increase and the Book Bag/School Supplies giveaway has been assisting with those costs for over 20 years in Custer County.
“We’ve been doing the backpack and school supplies giveaways for more than 20 years in Custer County, and yes, we keep having to increase our budget because the cost of supplies keeps going up, so we know it’s a pinch for families too, so we just want to help them out in a really good way because what the kids are going going do is they come in, they pick out a backpack, and then they walk around the tables and we fill it with the supplies that they need for their grade and their school.”
While the backpacks for the giveaway are provided by the Omaha office of the Salvation Army, Allen and Moninger said a good portion of the funds for the school supplies come from the Cliff Luther Endowment.
“A lot of the funds come from the Cliff Luther Endowment money that we get every year. We get the interest off of his endowment that he gave. I think it was back in 2003. Cliff Luther willed to the Custer County Self-Addiction Army $500,000. And so, the interest off that money is pretty considerable. And that helps us do so many things. And he did want his money to be used for the very young and the very old. So, we feel like this project fits right into that. But we also use money from bell ringing from many other donations.”
The giveaway is open to any student in Custer County from pre-school through 12th grade including homeschooled students. All children must be accompanied by an adult.
