Churches and firefighters seek school supplies

Four Federal Way churches — Grace Church, Lifeway Church, Faith Church and Joy Church — are partnering with South King Fire and Rescue (SKFR) and Federal Way Public Schools (FWPS) in a joint school supply drive and school beautification effort.

By Greg Allmain • August 12, 2011 2:48 pm
School supply collection bins are at all South King Fire and Rescue stations. This sign sits outside the station on 1st Avenue South in Federal Way. For SKFR donation locations
School supply collection bins are at all South King Fire and Rescue stations. This sign sits outside the station on 1st Avenue South in Federal Way. For SKFR donation locations

Four Federal Way churches — Grace Church, Lifeway Church, Faith Church and Joy Church — are partnering with South King Fire and Rescue (SKFR) and Federal Way Public Schools (FWPS) in a joint school supply drive and school beautification effort.

All eight SKFR stations currently have collection bins available for people to donate school supplies, with the drive running until Aug. 22. See a list of fire station locations online at www.southkingfire.org.

Suggested supplies include plain pocket folders, white glue, pencils, crayons, scissors for children, pink erasers, markers, glue sticks, composition books, yellow highlighters, colored pencils, wide-ruled spiral notebooks and wide-ruled notebook paper.

For more information on specific items needed, visit Grace Church’s website at gcfw.org. Click on the Investing in Our Schools tab on the right hand side of the page.

Helping the schools

The beautification projects will take place Aug. 27 at Twin Lakes and Lake Grove elementary schools and Illahee Middle School. The beautification projects run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 27. Grace Church community care pastor Wendy McIntosh said anyone can come help.

“We’ll be doing some grounds work, weed pulling, laying some bark, hedge trimming,” McIntosh said. “We’ll also be putting up some basketball hoops. Anybody that wants to come from the community to help, they can show up and jump in and we’ll give them stuff to do. Garden gloves would be good to bring.”

McIntosh said for the beautification projects, volunteers plan to host a hot dog lunch toward the end, and hope community members will take the chance to get to know one another.

“The gist of it is getting people outside of their walls and partnering with each other in the community to serve families and to serve schools,” she said. “We’re hoping we can hang out and connect as a community.”

As far as the school supply drive is concerned, McIntosh said bins are also available at the four churches, along with those available at the eight SKFR stations.

Especially needed are some of the more expensive items that need to be resupplied throughout the school year, such as composition books and spiral notebooks.

“In these difficult economic times, we are pleased to partner with local church groups to help make a difference for the kids in our community,” said SKFR Chief Al Church in a press release. “Our small level of assistance shows that everyone can pitch in and make a difference for our schools and the youth they are preparing for the future.”