The Reverend Rose Cohen Hassan of Trinity Church, who serves as manager of Services at HIGHWAYS (Helping Individuals Gain Hope Will Always Yield Success), has seen a lot of hardship in her life, both in Bayonne where she helps feed and clothe some of the neediest families in the city as well as in her previous assignment in Kearny. But it took overhearing some of her clients one day for her to realize that hardship reaches every level.
HIGHWAYS is a program of the Windmill Alliance, a private, non-profit organization dedicated to providing services for the handicapped and the disadvantaged in Bayonne.
While HIGHWAYS does a lot through its food pantry to feed people – distributing to people around the holidays as well as all year round, and clothing people though donations at its thrift store – Rev. Hassan came to realize that hardship can affect kids in different ways.
“Some of our clients were talking about the cost of buying school supplies,” she said, during a recent interview.
Back in Kearny, Rev. Hassan frequently purchased school supplies from a local retailer in bulk, after she realized that students from poorer families may be struggling not just with food and the cost of rent, but even to give their kids what they need to attend school.
For this reason, she decided that she needed to reach out into the community and get some help from people who may be a little better off with supplying children with some of the basics they will need to attend school in September.
“I’m reaching out to the local schools to find out what kinds of items students would need,” she said, noting that some schools have specific preferences, and that she would like to provide students with backpacks containing school supplies appropriate to the specific school.
Hoping to catch people over the summer so that she can distribute the goods to students in time for September, Rev. Hassan hopes to kick off the campaign on July 1 to collect donations of school supplies for students who might not be able to afford them otherwise, items that would be distributed as part of a backpack package when schools come back into session in September.
“We will be asking for donations of backpacks, loose-leaf binders, loose-leaf paper, composition books, spiral notebooks, pens, paper, crayons and anything else you tell us that might be useful,” she said. “I heard that the average student spends around $100 for school supplies each year. That’s a heavy load for a poor family, especially if they have two or three kids.”
“I’m reaching out to the local schools to find out what kinds of items students would need.” – Rev. Rose Cohen Hassan
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Hometown concerns
She said she began hearing about the concern from some of the clientele at HIGHWAYS who were talking about the problem.
A number of people were coming to the food bank sometimes more than once a month. And she realized that many of the same people who receive Thanksgiving baskets or are on the pantry’s Christmas list might be also struggling at school.
“Some of the people are really struggling,” she said.
So she figured that by collecting school things, HIGHWAYS might take some of the burden off the backs of these people and others who the schools and churches in the city might know are also in need.
Although Rev. Hassan said she will be consulting some of HIGHWAYS clients to determine which kids might need these, she is also reaching out to the schools and other groups, hoping the community will refer families to her.
“We’d like to start registering people beginning around July 15,” she said, hoping to begin distributing the backpacks before school starts in September.
She said that people can bring donations to HIGHWAYS during business hours from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first Saturday on the month.
People can register how many kids they need things for.
“We will take them in the order we received them, although we hope we can accommodate everyone,” she said. “We hope that people who have enough can help those who don’t.”
She said she reaching out to people in the schools to help spread the word about the need for donations as well as those who might be in need.
For more information, to donate or register, contact Rev. Hassan at RCHassan@WindmillAlliance.org or call (201) 471-2634. Residents may call with other suggestions for items that should be collected or for any other reason. People can also call Ann at (201) 471-2633.