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Newaygo County community partners provide school supplies for rural low-income families

TrueNorth Community Services Tools for Schools logo
TrueNorth Community Services

Parents and students are preparing for the start of the school year. For most families it begins by purchasing new school supplies and backpacks. For low-income families it can be a financial burden.

In Newaygo County, Fremont-based nonprofit TrueNorth Community Services and its partners Fremont Area Community Foundation and Gerber Foundation confront rural poverty head-on.

This week community partners hosted the 16th Annual Tools for School Expo. Seven hundred and thirty-five kindergarten through 12th grade students from qualifying low-income families received a new backpack filled with the necessary, grade appropriate school supplies.

Mike Voyt is TrueNorth’s Volunteer and Special Projects Coordinator, he explains all students should enter the school year on a level playing field.

“So, folks that come here have the option to see some of the resources available to them in the community as well as get a haircut for free for their dependents, dental checks, vision checks.”

Meeting basic healthcare needs promoting learning and self-confidence.

More than 40 TrueNorth volunteers in addition to 20 agencies supported the program.

Patrick Center, WGVU News.

Patrick joined WGVU Public Media in December, 2008 after eight years of investigative reporting at Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV8 and three years at WYTV News Channel 33 in Youngstown, Ohio. As News and Public Affairs Director, Patrick manages our daily radio news operation and public interest television programming. An award-winning reporter, Patrick has won multiple Michigan Associated Press Best Reporter/Anchor awards and is a three-time Academy of Television Arts & Sciences EMMY Award winner with 14 nominations.