Englewood Hospital provides supplies for students

ENGLEWOOD — As students embark on a new school year, colleagues from HCA Florida Englewood Hospital wanted to ensure kids had all the essential supplies.

An supply drive that went through July helped create backpacks filled with supplies, according to a news release.

“The hospital collected enough backpacks and school supplies to provide 17 students with a backpack full of basic back-to-school supplies and a $20 gift card to a local retail store for other necessities,” the news release said. “Volunteers dropped off three boxes filled with supplies for Kids’ Needs of Greater Englewood, an organization supporting area students with clothing, supplies and other items.”

Hospital Volunteer Stew Kessler donated four 14.1-inch laptops with Windows 10 that were given to four of the oldest students.

“Today, students have to be prepared for the role of technology in their everyday lives,” Kessler said in a news release. “Having access to the internet on a laptop will help improve their learning and performance. I was happy to be able to support the students with these laptops again this year.”

Hospital Colleague Melody Ramirez picked up supplies for her three children.

“School supplies are not cheap,” Ramirez said in a news release. “With this donation of supplies, I can afford to buy my kids more uniforms and shoes.”

The news release said that the impact of providing essential supplies to children and families resembles “hope” within the community.

“I am so proud of our colleagues and volunteers for coming together to collect everything from pens and pencils to laptops,” said CEO of HCA Florida Englewood Hospital Joe Rudisill. “It is a priority to care for our community and each other, so it is heartwarming to see so many items collected. We hope this provides a little help to the families and sets the students up for a better learning experience overall.”