The annual trek down the supermarket school-supply aisle is just a fantasy for more than 20,000 school-aged children in San Diego County who identified their family as being homeless during the 2012-13 school year.

In order to provide much needed help for these kids, employees from the County of San Diego Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) recently participated in the Drive for Success campaign, a donation drive to collect school supplies for homeless students.
  
"It's easy,” said one staff member. “When you're shopping for your children's supplies, just add a few more things to the cart to donate."

Collection bins were placed in HCD lunch rooms where staff could drop-off their donations of binders, spiral notebooks, binder paper, calculators, color pencils, erasers, flashcards, glue sticks, highlighters, ink pens, washable markers, notebooks, pencils, pencil sharpeners, and more.

The San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) collected and distributed the donated items.  SDCOE partners with local businesses and government agencies like HCD for the Drive for Success campaign to provide over 4,000 homeless children across the region with much-needed school supplies.  The five-week school supply collection campaign began July 1 and will conclude on August 8.

The generosity of HCD employees toward their homeless neighbors is a striking example of the Live Well San Diego philosophy: a collaboration among individuals, community groups, and multiple County agencies and their employees working toward a common goal to keep San Diegans healthy, safe and thriving.

For more information, please call (858) 503-2620, or visit the website.