NCJW event to offer school supplies for kids

Helping kindergartners to fifth-graders who are in need “shop” for items ranging from notebooks to winter jackets will be the focus at the third annual National Council of Jewish Women’s Peninsula and South Shore sections’ Back 2 School Store, and a variety of services are available to help the students’ parents.
The NCJW expects 650 children to participate in the free shopping bonanza this Sunday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Temple Am Echad in Lynbrook. The children were selected through referrals from local faith- and community-based organizations and county and state agencies, Laurie Stone Brofsky, co-president of NCJW’s Peninsula Section, based in Lawrence, explained.
“The children are from low-income families,” she said. “While they shop, their parents receive cancer screenings, nutrition advice and blood pressure screenings. They get information on a variety of services. The information booths are available to them in English and Spanish.”
The Lawrence-based Five Towns Community Center offers information about the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to parents. Both programs help the economically disadvantaged purchase food.
The Back 2 School Store event began in 2013, when Linda Tolkin, executive director of NCJW’s Peninsula Section, enlisted the help of others to provide services to children and their families. The idea came from two other NCJW sections where it had been successful, in St. Louis and New Jersey. More than 300 children took part two years ago, and in 2014, 470 attended.

“Our goal is to help create positive self-esteem and enthusiasm so that the children will be ready to focus on learning when they return to their classrooms in September,” said Pnina Knopf, publicity chair for the NCJW’s Peninsula Section.
Each child will shop for $180 worth of clothing, toiletries and school supplies to equip them for school and the colder months. They shop with volunteer personal shoppers while their parents avail themselves of the social services provided.
Each year after the event, the NCJW takes a survey to help with the following year’s planning. “Our parents tell us every year, ‘This is a blessing,’” Stone Brofsky said. “Our parents are extremely grateful.”
Hope Coleman, the event’s coordinator, said that enrollment numbers increased this year because the program added new agencies that offer aid to eligible children. “From Freeport to Inwood, from Roosevelt to Hempstead and Elmont, we service the children from these communities,” she said. “The children we serve are those who are eligible for their schools’ free-lunch programs. Though our numbers are increasing, there are some children who age out, or become too old, to participate in our program.”
Lakeisha Wilson, of Long Beach, a parent who took part in 2013, after Hurricane Sandy, expressed her gratitude to the organization. “It helped a lot of us to get back on our own feet,” she said. “A lot of people are still repairing. It helps a lot of us.”
To donate to NCJW’s effort for next year’s Back 2 School event, go to www.ncjwpeninsula.org/community-service/back-2-school-store/53339. To learn more about the organization’s mission, visit www.ncjwpeninsula.org/.