TRIAD – Two nonprofit organizations in the Triad are trying to ensure every child has the school supplies they need for the first day of school.

As part of Fill the Bus school supply drives, Communities In Schools of Randolph County and Fairgrove Family Resource Center in Thomasville are collecting school supplies in various areas in their respective communities. CIS of Randolph County’s drive run until Aug. 15, and Fairgrove Family Resource Center’s campaign will run through the month of August.

The economy, according to organizers of Fill the Bus school supply drive, is expected to cause more students to need school supplies this year.

“Parents who are not working full-time or working at all, you are not going to have that extra money to help those kids,” said Gwen Taylor, CIS of Randolph County assistant director.

“There is a tremendous need based on the economy,” said Terri Nelson, executive director of the Fairgrove Family Resource Center.

Both organizations hope to help hundreds of youngsters with school supplies.

“We were able to assist about 250 kids,” Taylor said of last year’s Fill the Bus campaign. “Sometimes it’s hard to say because we will help a certain number of kids individually and then the supply we have left over, we will give to the schools and let them use it as needed.”

Among some of the items being requested by the nonprofits as donations are book bags (no wheels), three-ring binders, No. 2 pencils, erasers and crayons. Nelson and Taylor said book bags are always needed for Fill the Bus school supply drives.

“We need 200 (book bags),” Nelson said. “We need all sizes. You would need a size for an elementary kid, but you also need something that a high school student would need.”

Rosa Allred is the Fill the Bus coordinator for CIS of Randolph County at Archdale United Methodist Church.

“We are just getting started,” Allred said. “If it goes like it has in the past, it will be great. All of our church members love helping out the school. We participate with Communities In Schools and for the supply drive because particularly at this time there are so many people in need and we want to support our local Randolph County schools.”

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Fill the bus drop-off locations

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The following locations are drop-off locations in Thomasville for Fairgrove Family Resource Center.

• Cedar Lodge Market, 237 Cedar Lodge Road.

• Fair Grove United Methodist Church, 138 Fairgrove Church Road.

• Piedmont Crossing Retirement Center, 100 Hedrick Drive.

• Chair City Office Supply, 24 East Main St.

• Mt. Zion Wesleyan Church, 222 Mt. Zion Church Road.

• Pinewoods United Methodist Church, 199 Pinewoods Church Road.

• Fidelity Bank, 1035 Randolph St.

• City of Thomasville, 10 Salem St.

• Memorial United Methodist Church, 101 Randolph St.

• Dr. Nicholas J. Hurley, 1040 Randolph St.

The following locations are drop-off locations in the Archdale-Trinity area for Community In Schools of Randolph County.

• Archdale Recreation Center, 214 Park Drive, Archdale.

• Archdale Public Library, 10433 S. Main St., Archdale.

• State Employees Credit Union, 10305 N. Main St., Archdale.

• Archdale-Trinity News, 3407-B Archdale Road, Archdale.

• Archdale Friends Meeting and Preschool, 114 Trindale Road, Archdale.

• Archdale United Methodist Church, 11453 N. Main St., Archdale.

• Trinity Memorial United Methodist Church, 7140 N.C. 62, Trinity.

• Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church, 4732 Robbins Country Road, Trinity.

• Poplar Friends Meeting, 3673 Hoover Hill Road, Trinity.

• Hopewell United Methodist Church, 4512 Hopewell Church Road, Trinity.

Monetary donations are accepted. For more information, contact Communities In Schools of Randolph County at 625-0008 and Fairgrove Family Resource Center at 472-7217.