Project Pencils looks to make difference in Wright County

Project Pencils has expanded well beyond the 40 students it first helped back in 2010, when social workers started collecting donations to help clients who couldn’t afford school supplies.

The organization assists families with children enrolled in public schools within Wright County, supplying students with school supplies every year.

A total of 669 students received school supplies last year and, this year, that number is expected to be at least 750.

“We had 485 students in 2022 and then we soared to 669 in 2023,” Project Pencils Co-founder Hollee Saville said. “(With) inflation, the cost of everything is so much more, people are having trouble finding jobs. Just the cost of school supplies alone, it’s really hard for families, so it’s not surprising that number increases every year.”

It all started in 2010 when Brandy Vollbrecht and other social workers started collecting donations. In 2016, Saville created School Supplies for STMA, with a similar goal for Wright County students.

In 2018, Vollbrecht and Saville combined the two organizations into Project Pencils, providing students with backpacks filled with all the school supplies on their school supply list.

In order to help with this year’s initiative, people can “adopt” a student and donate all the supplies the student will need. All family’s names are anonymous and they just have to fill out a form on www.projectpencils.com anytime now through Wednesday, July 31.

In the form, families will need to provide a brief explanation as to why they’re seeking help.

“You have stories of several families experiencing homelessness or house fires or there’s several who have parents who died and your heart breaks for them,” Saville said.

To get help from Project Pencils, students don’t need to live in Wright County, but they do need to be enrolled in a public school within the county, which includes 47 schools.

Individuals, businesses and organizations can “adopt” a student by reaching out to Project Pencils through the Facebook group or by emailing info@projectpencils.com.

Volunteers and donors help for all sorts of reasons. Maybe they want to dedicate the donation to a loved one they’ve lost or they just want to make a difference.

Organization & distribution

From Aug. 12 to 16, volunteers organize school supplies at Saville’s home in St. Michael and set up to get ready for distribution. After families request assistance or volunteers agree to help, then Saville sends people her address.

One such volunteer is Lindsey Heitman, along with her husband and his company who team up to help with the organization and distribution of school supplies.

“When it gets closer to the distribution day, volunteers start signing up for shifts to come line up backpacks in order for easier distributing the day of,” Heitman said. “This alone takes days and days to complete. We thoroughly check every backpack to ensure everything needed is in them and if it’s missing anything, there is a whole store inside to shop from thanks to many donations.”

Backpacks filled with school supplies will be distributed to families by volunteers on Aug. 17 from 8 to 11 a.m. and Aug. 20 from 5 to 8 p.m. Often people donate extra items to go into backpacks as well, such as personal care items, clothing, gift cards and more.

“Seeing the kids’ (and parents’) faces light up when they get their supplies makes it all worthwhile,” Heitman said. “Just taking one small burden off a parent and giving a child something to make them excited for the school year ahead is so great.”

“School supplies should be the last worry someone has and I’m so thankful for Project Pencils for recognizing the need and acting on it. My hope is that other communities will see the remarkable work of Project Pencils and emulate it.”

Groups of volunteers can also help Project Pencils by hosting a backpack-filling event so that they can drop off supplies that are ready to go. Another option is to write cards or notes of encouragement for students, cards go into each of the backpacks for students.

“There’s people who donate money too if you don’t have time to buy supplies or you want us to put it where it’s needed the most,” Saville said. “So we’re able to buy supplies, I’m very frugal. So I try to find things on clearance, the best deals. We have extra supplies that we save up and then a lot of businesses do school supply drives.”