backpack

By Linda Greenblatt

 

Collaboration between Red Hook Rotary, the Hudson Valley Foundation for Youth Health (HVFYH), the Red Hook Methodist Church, and the Dutchess County Alpha Zeta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma (DGK)  (an International Society for Key Women Educators) in 2021 began with a $750 donation from the HVFYH, Clynk monies from Red Hook Rotary and DKG, plus private donations of school supplies from DKG members.  It resulted in the distribution of approximately seventy backpacks for students in grades Pre-K to 12.  Distribution was through various food pantries in the Red Hook Central School District.  Red Hook Rotary and the Red Hook Rotary Foundation also generously donates $3,000 to Red Hook Harvest annually to alleviate food insecurity for families with children attending the Linden Avenue Middle School and Red Hook High School.  Many of the same families express a need for school supplies for their children.

 

In 2022 with a $1,000 donation from Red Hook Rotary, a $1,500 grant from HVFYH, a donation from Deep Roots Construction (Casey Van Voorhis), and Clynk monies from Red Hook Rotary and DKG, Alpha Zeta, over 120 backpacks will be filled to the brim with school supplies (plus a box of tissues, a large tube of toothpaste, and a bamboo recyclable toothbrush!) needed by students to start the 2022-23 academic year.  Additionally, Red Hook Rotary has reached out privately to several special needs classroom teachers where there is a need for supplemental school supplies in several local school districts. It should be noted that a donated book has also been placed in each backpack Pre-K-5.

 

 

dkg.org

hvfyh.org

Casey Van Voorhis, 845-240-0448