United Way of Union County kicked off its annual “Learn United” School Supply Drive Monday.
“This year we had to be creative,” Corinne Bix, Director, said, “As in years past, we have drop-off locations around
the county, but we are also encouraging donations via our secure online platform and we created an Amazon Wish List where items can be shipped
directly to our offices.“
Bix said the drive might be more important this year because annual school supply shopping is usually part of our normal routine,
but this year has been far from normal.
“The pandemic has turned the world upside down and we are all learning how to re-calculate our everyday lives,” she said, “We no
longer take normalcy for granted and crave those things that we know. Access for all students to new school supplies is something we can make happen.”
Public collection sites as of July 20 include: Parrott Implement in Richwood; Edward Jones Investments (Columbus Avenue, London Avenue and
Scotts Farm Blvd. locations), Honda Marysville, Marysville Public Library, and The United Way of Union County.
Two new collection sites this year are Home Depot and The Hope Center. Anyone dropping off items is reminded of the county wide mask mandate.
“We are very grateful for the locations that are willing to take on-site donations,” Bix said, “COVID-19 has made everything
more challenging and we wanted to make sure we had some public donation sites that were accessible for anyone that wants to donate.”
In addition, several local businesses will be collecting internally among staff.
All area school districts in Union County and Plain City are contacted prior to the school supply drive to ensure the
cumulative list includes supplies being requested by teachers for the 2020-21 school year.
The collection will end on Aug. 10. All donations will be sorted by volunteers at the Central Ohio Youth Center
and distributed directly to schools in the Fairbanks, Jonathan Alder, Marysville, and North Union districts before the
start of the school year. Those in need of supplies should contact their child’s school to learn more.
If you would like to collect at your business, please contact Bix at uwuc.corinne@gmail.com.
Sponsors of this year’s Learn United event include: Interim Healthcare, Honda of America, Liberty National Bank, Union Rural
Electric, The Union County Foundation, Edward Jones Investments, Parrott Implement, Active Healthy Lifestyle, Minuteman
Press Dublin, and Memorial Health.
Lorie Spain with The Hope Center holds a “Learn United” School Supply Drive Collection Box. Boxes were donated by Lowe’s.
The Hope Center is one of 9 public collection sites for this year’s school supply drive.
