ACLAMO expects record contibutions as backpack drive ends
Saddleback College campus club ACLAMO hosted their fourth annual backpack drive this summer in order to collect donations of school supplies for students at local Orange County schools.
The supervisor of ACLAMO and Saddleback College counselor Sara Nieves Lucas started the backpack drive four years ago in order to provide students who loved school and who grew up in a low-income households with the school supplies needed in order to succeed. Last year she included the campus club ACLAMO in the drive.
“The mission of ACLAMO is to help the community,” says Nieves.
With the help of ACLAMO, the amount of donations last year tripled from the first year and this year’s results are still waiting to be counted.
Nieves and the club started the drive at the end of July. From then they advertised it on Facebook, through churches, small business, and many different locations.
Most of the contributions come from donators of the previous years and many from Saddleback College faculty and administrators.
Donations for the cause included backpacks, pens and pencils, folders, filler paper, calculators, markers, crayons, and various other supplies.
Once collected, the backpacks full of supplies are then distributed to a local North Orange County elementary school and one South Orange County school within the Saddleback Valley School District.
“The way we choose schools is to look at the statistics: low income, free lunches — the schools who need it the most,” Nieves said.
The first choice is for kids who may possibly be homeless or with families who are struggling in this economy.
In past years backpacks were given to San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano Elementary School.
ACLAMO hoped to end the drive with a bang of contributions over Labor Day weekend.
For more information on the drive or the club ACLAMO you can email Sara Nieves Lucas at [email protected] or check out their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/aclamo.sc.