Prepare for Success: Organization Helps Kids get Back-to-School Basics

By Brandie Jefferson

You've heard it plenty of times before: Howard County is one of the wealthiest areas in the country. 

With nearly 14,000 Howard County residents living below the poverty line, nearly 6,000 in Columbia,  many families cannot afford the school supplies that studies show will cost families, on average, $635 per student this year.

With 18 percent – more than 9,500 students – eligible for the Free and Reduced Meals program and nearly 550 students categorized as homeless, students in Howard County will feel the sting of the high cost of returning to the classroom. 

Want to help your neighbors?

Prepare for Success (PFS) can help. The organization donates school supplies to children who need them through a collaborative effort by the Howard County Public School System; Community Action Council; PTA Council, Columbia Association and the Volunteer Center Serving Howard County, along with several other civic, social and business groups.

For the past 11 years, PFS has donated backpacks filled with school supplies to more than 24,000 middle and high school students as they prepare to go back to school. It has also equipped students with additional supplies throughout the school years.

Here's how you can help:

• Central Library
• East Columbia Library
• Elkridge Library
• Glenwood Library
• Miller Library
• Savage Library 

Prepare for Success is accepting the following supplies. Please, only donate new items:

• Backpacks
• Marble Composition
• Pocket Folders
• Single Subject Spirals Wide
• Wide Loose Leaf Filler
• 1 ½” – 2” 3-Ring Binder
• Dividers
• Colored Pencil Pack
• Crayon Pack
• Colored Markers Pack
• Highlighters
• Pencils
• Glue Stick
• Blunt Scissors
• Pencil Bag
• Eraser 
• Ruler