Church gathers items for migrants

By MAURA POSSLEY

With a new school year on its way, local charities are reaching out to better prepare incoming students from migrant farmworker families.

Backpacks, pencils, paper, notebooks, crayons, markers - you name it - are being sought by Harvest United Methodist Church.

The church anticipates close to 130 new students to report for class this year at Lakewood Ranch's Gilbert McNeal Elementary, said Diane McCoy, a church member helping to organize the fundraising project that began last week.

Because of county redistricting, the students - mostly from migrant farmworker families - will be bused in from the Myakka City area to McNeal.

The church hopes to provide each of those students, along with an estimated 60 new middle and high school students, adequate school supplies to start the year off right, McCoy said.

"These kids are coming into a whole new environment," she said. "It's going to be a whole new world to them. Economically, it's going to be a change for them, too.

"We thought this would be a nice way to welcome them."

In Bradenton, the Stillpoint House of Prayer is seeking donations for migrant students to start the year off in step - with a new pair of shoes, said Sister Nora Brick, Stillpoint director.

"It's very hard to have a pair of shoes for each child when they're poor," she said. "I know how hard it is when you have four or five pair of shoes to buy for one family and sometimes even more."

The organization buys $10 gift certificates to Payless ShoeSource to then dole out to migrant families, she said.

"The demand (for shoes) seems to be greater this year," Brick said.

The shoe program was created by Brick about 20 years ago. One of the most sought-after items among migrant families is shoes, Brick said.

"It's nice for a child to have new shoes when they're going back to school," she said. "It's been a great blessing every year."