Ascension Sacred Heart Bay donated school supplies to Parker Elementary

BAY COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – Back-to-school season is here. A number of organizations are conducting school supply drives so schools can help students.

Ascension Sacred Heart Bay employees have been working hard all month to gather school supplies for their annual back-to-school drive.

This is their third year in a row for the drive.

This year Parker Elementary School benefited from the basic supplies like pencils, glue sticks, and backpacks. However, some employees took it a step further and donated supplies for teachers to use in their classrooms, like cleaning wipes and dry-erase markers.

Ascension said this is just one of the ways they help support the community.

“Ascension really wants to know we’re part of the community. We take care of these kids. We take care of their parents and their grandparents here at the hospital. And we want to give back to the community. So we know that inflation is really hard right now. Some of our students are not able to get all the supplies that they need. And if we can help our community, help our patients and their kids, that’s the bigger goal for us is to make sure that they have the items that that they need,” Cardiac Medicine unit manager Jennifer Morefield said.

They are hoping this donation not only helps the students but also helps parents during this time of year.

“I just enjoy being able to help that out, help out the students, and making sure that they have what they need. As for parents, there’s already a lot of stress on getting everything they need to go back to school. So if we can help alleviate some of that, we’re more than happy to do so,” Orthopedic surgical floor manager Savannah Wood said.

The hospital staff collected and organized all the donations on Thursday morning, then headed to Parker Elementary where the school’s director of the community partnership school was waiting.

She said helping teachers with supplies is a game changer.

“It alleviates a barrier for them because again, a lot of that is coming out of their own pockets. And without them having to spend that resource or their money on school supplies, they know that we have it covered. They can do other things, beautiful beautification of their classroom, making teaching a lot easier. So again, just taking away that that that barrier for them that they can focus on other areas,” Community Partnership School director Sharis Robinson said.

The school is hosting its annual “Sharing Hope in Parker”, or “Ship Day”, next Saturday, July 27th.

More than a dozen community vendors will help with medical screenings, school physicals, and more. While they will be giving out free school supplies and backpacks, the supplies donated on Thursday will be used for the classrooms.

Hospital employees donated about $1800 in supplies on Thursday.

Ship Day is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday the 27th at Parker Elementary.

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