TACOMA, Wash. — Toy Rescue Mission President Martha Davis can’t wait for Saturday, and is spent Friday getting ready.
The Mission will be hosting a Back-to-School giveaway in Tacoma and has filled 600 bookbags with protractors, calculators, colored pencils, and everything else students need.
The giveaway will be held in the Tacoma Rescue Mission's rear lot at 607 S Winnifred St.
In addition to school supplies, kids and adults will be able to get vaccinated. The Toy Rescue Mission partnered with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department to provide vaccinations for COVID-19 for anyone at least six months old.
“I want these kids to feel like somebody loves them,” Davis said. “I’m super excited, it’s going to be a good day.”
Davis says the goal is to try to prepare as many students as possible because too many start the school year without the resources they need.
“We got the school list from Tacoma Public Schools, and they said these are the items that kids need to come to school with,” Davis explained. “We talked to several schools and they told us that only 40% of kids bring everything on the list, so we’re trying to get that 40% to 60-70% so that we can impact as many kids as we can.”
Data from the 2020-21 school year shows that 62% of students in the Tacoma Public School district qualified for free or reduced lunch programs.
In the midst of higher food and gas prices, Davis says this kind of help is vital because, for many in Tacoma, there just isn’t enough to cover this expense.
“My goal is to fill the gap to provide these kids these extra supplies and take them to school,” she said.
This year, Tacoma realtor Richard Miller helped Davis raise almost $17,000 worth of supplies for this year’s giveaway. He says he reached out to Davis because he remembered a time when he needed help.
“I also come from a background where I needed things too,” he said. “Most of the people who donate and support our movement are people who tell me, I used to be one of those kids.”
Miller hopes that he and Davis can continue working together to serve the community.
“Last year, we did 312 backpacks, this year, we’re going to do 600,” he said. “We will continue this partnership. I believe that the more you can bring people together that have that same passion for serving children in our community, the more we can do.”
Miller says putting an event like this together isn’t easy, and called donors from around Tacoma and around the country to raise funds to make it happen.
Jimmy Bagalini, owner of Cuban Plug and the event's biggest donor, said he was excited to be a part of the giveaway.
“I just want everybody to have what I had, to have what my kids have,” he said.
Meanwhile, Davis says that all the work is worth it as long as she makes a child happy.
“Kids come in and they see all this stuff and their faces light up and they get excited because they see so much stuff,” she said. “If you can give somebody else that feeling, then go for it!”