The Great 580 hosts school supply giveaway

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - A Lawton organization hosted a student and teacher school supply giveaway Saturday afternoon at Cameron Baptist Church.

It’s tax free weekend in Oklahoma, but one expense parents won’t save on this weekend, is school supplies. That only applies to certain types of apparel and footwear.

To help offset the cost of sending kids back to class, the Great 580 hosted a school supply drive for teachers and students.

Board Member Stephanie Overby is also a kindergarten teacher.

“We do have a lot of students who are not able to afford some of this stuff,” Overby said. “For them not to be able to get the education they need just because they couldn’t afford to purchase certain items, I don’t think that’s fair.”

Parents could claim a backpack online and pick it up, and teachers who presented a school ID could get what they need for class.

All leftover supplies were handed out later.

Overby said events like this help teachers because the school supplies they have last longer when students show up prepared.

“Doing this, coming here, kind of alleviates some of the stuff I would have to buy,” Overby said. “So, like extra pencils and things like that, I don’t really worry about that because I know I’ve been to one of these events that are really put on by the community to help teachers.”

The group fundraised about $4,000 and collected supply donations from the community throughout the summer and used the money to purchase everything students would need to start school.

This is the fifth time the group has put together a school supply drive, but the organizers said this was the biggest one they’ve hosted so far.

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