Kylea Peart, a pathology technician at LDS Hospital organized a collection of school supplies to be donated to Utah foster children as they head back to school this year. Caregivers at the hospital happily responded with donations of calculators, notebooks, colored pencils, glue sticks, face masks, and much more. They ended up with enough donations to fill a truck bed.
All the donations from LDS Hospital caregivers
“I’m bown away at the response we were able to get during a pandemic and in just one week of collecting,” Kylea says. “With the cash donations alone, we were able to purchase an additional 29 backpacks the night before we delivered everything. These amazing kids absolutely deserve to have an amazing school year, and we definitely were able to help. We really were able to accomplish so much in such a short amount of time.”
According to Utah Foster Care, there are more than 2,900 children in foster care in Utah and more than half of them are school aged and returning to school this fall. Paying for all the supplies, school fees, and other expenses related to school can be a huge burden on foster families, many of which are caring for multiple children.
“As a parent, we know the cost of free education isn’t free,” Kylea says. “No other time do we feel it more than when the school year begins. Foster families come from all types of backgrounds and many of them have taken in sibling groups. Anytime school supplies are donated, you can see the depths of gratitude on their faces. The burden of back-to-school has been lifted a little and they can continue to focus on their purpose of loving and helping these children heal.”