MARBLEHEAD — SPUR is currently in the midst of one of its biggest fundraising events: the Student Success Drive. The nonprofit organization is asking for donations with the goal of providing new High Sierra backpacks and other school essentials to underprivileged students from preschool to high school.
The Student Success Drive covers Lynn, Marblehead, Swampscott, and Salem. SPUR communicates with more than 15 agencies across the four municipalities to gather data on how many children are in need of assistance. The agencies vary from food pantries, public school systems, and other nonprofit organizations with similar goals.
“What we do is we work with vendors to provide items in bulk,” SPUR Director of Volunteer Engagement Bryan Lamoreau explained. “And then we ask people in the community to sponsor backpacks.”
Lamoreau said that based on this year’s research, the nonprofit’s goal is to donate 700 backpacks.
The donations are also used to purchase a plethora of academic supplies to fill those backpacks with. The specific supplies vary based on the ages and grades of the students receiving them. Lamoreau provided an example of what one selection will look like.
“We get all high-end items like Crayola for the supplies… we break it up into five groups,” Lamoreau said. “For example, fourth through sixth grade is getting a little bit older, so we provide them glue sticks, pencils, composition notebooks, index cards, Post-it notes, folders, pens, highlighters, erasers, and a three-subject notebook.”
He added that although SPUR does have a few sponsors who help annually, the majority of the resources come from community donations.
While Lamoreau said that this year’s effort is going well so far, he emphasized there is still time to donate as the school year gets closer.
“We’re getting really close,” Lamoreau said. “But your help could help get us over the line of meeting our goal and making sure that all these students have what they need to be successful this year.”
Donations to the Student Success Drive can be made at https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/0P2eRuqUrMdK2fQFVsPP6w?fbclid=IwAR0_SrMxBQ2q8eomC9rcnimhJRHUunFioFU27wqN6mbVTjSAg5Gehok-kR8
