Newtown’s Helping Hands—

Back-To-School Packs Just One Of Many Junior Women’s Club Projects

By John Voket

Just about the time when kids actually begin looking forward to returning to school and getting their parent’s off their backs, a group of local volunteers is working to get on the backs of more than 100 local students. In the coming week, the Newtown’s Junior Women’s Club will be delivering on one of its most high-profile service projects, providing stocked backpacks to about 118 returning school students who might have otherwise been ill-equipped for class.

Every August, volunteer members of the club begin obtaining backpacks, scissors, glue sticks, notebooks, calculators, pens, protractors, rulers, and other necessary back-to-school supplies. Then, over the course of a couple of well-organized evenings, backpack committee members fill the packs with age-appropriate equipment.

Based on requests made through Newtown Social Services and other channels, the filled backpacks are made available to parents who are faced with financial shortfalls, making it more difficult to completely outfit their returning students.

With back-to-school spending expected to total nearly $40 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation trade association in Washington, D.C., connecting students with all the gear they need to succeed in school is much more financially challenging.

A recent survey conducted by the group found that most families expect to spend an average of $483 this year for children in grade school and high school, up more than seven percent from $450 last year. Costs for college students are considerably higher.

These statistics may explain why requests to the Junior Women’s Club for the stocked backpacks have increased more than 20 percent since last year.

According to town Social Services Director Ann Piccini, it is single mothers with young children who most often come to her looking for ways to help stretch limited incomes. And the back-to-school backpacks can make a big difference when parents are forced to prioritize their spending between necessities like food and utilities, and the ever-increasing costs of school supplies and fall clothing.

“For the kids, it’s like opening holiday gifts when they see all the things inside these backpacks,” Ms Piccini said. “But for parents who are wondering how they’ll be able to keep up with all the supplies the schools require, it makes a real difference. The parents and the kids are all leaving here smiling, it’s very gratifying to see.”

Two local mothers who recently picked up backpacks from the Social Services office each praised the volunteers for their generosity. While both asked that their names not be used in the story, neither had any reservations about discussing how the Junior Women’s Club backpacks make all the difference.

“I was going to have to make them use their old packs,” one mother commented. “Now they won’t feel like outsiders. They’ll fit in with all their classmates, and they won’t be singled out because they don’t have new supplies and clothes.”

For the second mother, receiving the packs meant she would be able to afford shoes and clothes for her children.

“This isn’t like found money for me,” she said. “There was no way I could afford to get them backpacks and supplies, because they had to have clothes and shoes and I just can’t afford it all.”

Coincidentally, each of these mothers said they had three children who attended three different schools. They individually expressed appreciation for the volunteers’ organizing supplies based on each school’s requirements.

“I appreciate how hard the Junior Women’s Club works to make sure each student has class-appropriate supplies,” one said.

“They know just what every child needs no matter what school they are in, and what grade,” said the other.

Liz, another recipient single mother, said the packs for her two children not only help her stretch her budget so she can afford clothing, they help save the time and expense of traveling from store to store trying to find the best savings in supplies.

“The backpacks really help out a lot,” she said. “Now I don’t have to feel bad when I come home from the store where I got three pens for a dollar, and I open up an ad and see another store offering the same pens five for a dollar. Everything they need is right in there for you, and you take care of both children with one quick trip.”

Susan Rahmlo, the current Junior Women’s Club president, said the backpack program accounts for about $3,500 of the $17,000 the club will contribute to various causes this year. And except for one statewide nonprofit organization that receives donations from most of the state’s Junior Women’s Clubs, all the contributions stay right here in Newtown.

“Besides the packs with an average cost of $30, Edmond Town Hall received $2,500 for the renovation fund, Kevin’s Community Center received $1,000 for its general fund, and [the regional nonprofit cancer support organization] Time for Life gets $2,750,” Ms Rahmlo said. “We were able to provide the local Relay For Life $1,000, and the Booth Library $2,500, which is to be used for the young adult library, specifically for drug and alcohol abuse literature and to start a Scrabble Club for teens. In addition to the above donations there are several scholarships that we support.”

The club, which was incorporated in October 1971, has only 18 current members. But its initiatives have the potential to touch virtually everyone in the community.

Ms Rahmlo said this past school year, a series of Discovery Science, Math and Technology Workshops for students in grades K–4 and their parents drew more than 500 children. “We started the workshops in 1992,” she said. “And we find they help create an interest in science and get the students jazzed about the Science Fair, which is held six weeks later. The workshops became so popular that we eventually stopped holding the Science Fair.”

Another innovative effort, their book-a-baby program, donates a book to the Booth Library upon the birth of a member’s baby. The book has a nameplate in honor of the child. “We have also honored the grandchildren of our members,” Ms Rahmlo said.

Throughout the year, members bake cookies and present them to ambulance volunteers and each firehouse on one of their meeting nights.

In November, club members supply the food for a family Thanksgiving dinner. “This is done in cooperation with WIN [Women in Newtown], who sponsor this as a townwide program,” she said.

Ms Rahmlo said another effort, Healing Shawls, is a joint project with other Junior clubs in the District.

“Several members participated in knitting shawls for the Cancer Center at Bridgeport Hospital,” she said. “A few of the members never knitted before and learned a new skill in the process.”

She said the Newtown club has donated a total of 20 shawls to date.

Besides the community service projects, the Junior Women’s Club also provides social activities such as a potluck cocktail party, a holiday dinner and gift auction, bowling nights, and trips to baseball games and other attractions. And the club’s second annual golf tournament is coming up Monday at Whitney Farms Golf Club in Monroe.

Club members are also gearing up for their late summer mum sale, which is taking place August 28 at the Middle School from 9 am to 3 pm. Proceeds benefit the club and their many programs.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the Newtown Junior Women’s Club cab contact Ms Rahmlo at PO Box 217, Newtown, 06404. Annual dues are $30.