Want to Help Kids in Need before School Starts? Check Out the Catalogue for Philanthropy

Photo by PoPville flickr user bajidc

“Dear PoPville,

I wondered if you might be aware of a local DC area organization, like the Salvation Army’s Christmas Angel program, that let’s you “adopt” a kid before school starts to provide them with clothing or school needs.”

Tons of info from a recent press release:

“As the cost of going back to school continues to rise, Washingtonians have more ways than ever to help students in low-income neighborhoods, thanks to the nonprofits that make up the Catalogue for Philanthropy (www.cfp-dc.org).

Research has found the cost of supplies and extracurricular activities for high school students has increased 6.8 percent from last year to nearly $1,500 per student. The Southern Education Foundation reports that 51 percent of public school students come from low-income families.

The Catalogue, a trusted guide to local giving, vets and highlights the best small nonprofits in the region without any cost to the charities or donors.

It has surveyed members of its network during this back-to-school time and posted all of the opportunities to help at http://bit.ly/CFPB2S. The requests include traditional school supplies, art and music needs, and outdoor equipment.

Some of the highlights are:

• Hope House DC supports children whose fathers are incarcerated. It will host a back-to-school party in late August; each Hope House kid who attends will receive a backpack stuffed with school supplies. Items needed include composition books, dictionaries, highlighters, binders and calculators.
• Kids R First is distributing school supplies to 27,000 students in 100 schools on the free or reduced lunch program in Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Organizers need help gathering and sorting the supplies for each school.
• City Kids Wilderness Project is in need of the following new or nearly new items: tents, sleeping bags and rain gear.
• Art Enables creates the opportunity for visual artists with disabilities to make and market their work. Art Enables is in need of paint brushes, pencil sharpeners, canvases, paint and other supplies.

Full details about these needs and others from more than two dozen other Catalogue nonprofits are at http://bit.ly/CFPB2S .

The Catalogue began in 2003 and now raises over $3 million annually for local nonprofits in the metropolitan Washington region.”