With summer vacation half way over for the kids, it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming school year. Two local places are on the job, holding school supply drives for needy children in our area. Who are these two community minded places? The North West Salvation Army and the Surprise location of Texas Roadhouse!
As you are out purchasing what your children will need, consider getting a little extra you can donate to their drives. The donations help these children and teens focus on learning and feeling prepared and confident on that first day of school.
You are probably very familiar with the Christmas Toy Drive the Salvation Army organizes each holiday season with their volunteers, bells and donation buckets outside many grocery stores. But the Salvation Army tries year round to help families in need, not just for Christmas, and right now their focus is their School Supplies Drive!
Our local Salvation Army branch is currently collecting donations until July 15th. Last year they were able to help about 300 children get their school year off to a great start with all the supplies needed. If you would like to help, these are the items the Salvation Army is collecting:
- Backpacks: Gender neutral, elementary, and high school sizes
- Binders Three-Ring Binders 1/2” and 1”
- Calculators, Regular and Graphing
- Writing Supplies- Colored Pencils, Composition Notebooks (wide & college ruled), Dry Erase Markers, Erasers, Highlighters, Loose-leaf lined paper(wide and college ruled), Pens, Pencil Sharpeners
- Organizational Supplies -Folders (two-pocket), Rulers, Spiral Notebooks, Thumb Drives
- Scissors, Scotch Tape, White Glue
Donations can be dropped off at the Salvation Army’s Northwest Valley facility. The address is 17420 N Avenue of the Arts, Surprise 85378, right off of Bell. If you have questions, reach out to jeremy.pierce@usw.salvationarmy.org / 623-215-9566. (Their location is very close to the very delicious and affordably priced sandwich shop My Daddy's Italian Bakery & Cafe so you might just plan your donation drop off to be around meal time!)
Texas Roadhouse - Surprise Location is also looking to help make sure ALL students begin the school year with everything they need. They will be collecting donations throughout July and making it worth your while by giving you a little “thank you for caring” gift. For every 5 school supply items you donate to the Surprise Texas Roadhouse, they will give you a coupon for a free appetizer.
Their generosity is pretty boundless because this system works in multiples! Meaning, if you bring in 15 school supply items, you will receive 3 free appetizer coupons. They do not specify what they will accept but use your own child’s school list and you will probably be spot on with what other kids need.
And while we are speaking about the Texas Roadhouse in Surprise and how awesome they are, did you know they have a Kids Night each month? Yup! It’s the 3rd Tuesday of each month from 4-8 pm. They have special kid activities plus more coupons to come back with. Be sure to check it out for a fun family night out! Find out about other fun kids activities at the MacaroniKID Events Calendar.
The address for Surprise’s Texas Roadhouse is 14175 W. Grand Ave., Surprise, AZ 85374 and their website is here.
