Carpinteria students receiving school supplies for at-home assignments

CARPINTERIA, Calif. - In the midst of a stressful final two months of their school year, some Carpinteria students are getting a bag full of badly needed supplies.

Each one was loaded up Tuesday in an assembly line at the Girls Inc. building and piled into donated bags from Montecito Bank & Trust.

Volunteers with busy hands were stuffing in pencils, tablets, notebooks, crayons, scissors, modeling clay and a variety of art supplies.

Carpinteria Unified Schools Superintendent Diana Rigby was part of the team.

She says 58 percent of the children in elementary and middle school are in dire need of these supplies, along with the free and reduced lunch program.

The district will make deliveries in the next few days.

In addition to making sure a laptop was available, the other supplies are necessary for a complete learning experience.

"Schooling and learning is not all about being on line. We have a lot of hands on activities and we want students to be writing in notebooks, we want them using art supplies , we want them cutting and pasting and coloring," said Rigby. "They need to do a lot of application and they need those materials."

Vans were nearby getting stuffed with the filled bags of supplies.

The 93013 Fund was organized recently by local business and community leaders along with Carp Growers.

Thousands of dollars have been donated to help where needs arise during the coronavirus crisis.

The distribution is decided by a committee that includes many non-profit organizations.

The fund also contributes to the weekly food distribution, now taking place in front of Main school. Last week about 500 families were served.

For more information go to the 93013 fund website.