First Adirondack Region School Supply Drive a Success!

Thousands of School Supplies Donated to Students and Teachers

- August 30, 2017

As featured in the Leader-Herald

It’s that time of year again — back to school. This means it’s also time for back-to-school shopping. Whether it be buying a new outfit, or buying school supplies, it can be expensive.

For the first time, the Fulton Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare is having a Back-to-School supply drive. It will be taking donations of school supplies such as, pencils, pens, notebooks, erasers, markers and more for not only students, but for teachers as well.

“People are already school shopping as it is,” Will Wohltjen, Fulton Center employee. “Go buy extra markers, go buy extra notebooks and donate them.”

The back to school supply drive began on Monday and will continue through Sept. 16. It is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will be bins for school supply donations.

So far, 250 notebooks have been donated by Centers Health Care to  Fulton Center.

 
Some of the collected supplies. 
(The Leader-Herald/Briana O'Hara)

“All the stuff we get will be going toward Gloversville school system,” Wohltjen said.

Centers Health Care have also donated 250 notebooks to Essex Center in Elizabethtown, Warren Center in Queensbury and Washington Center in Argyle, as well.

The back-to-school supply drive is held at each Adirondack location and all the donations will be given to the communities or school systems.

“There have been other donations,” Wohltjen said, “Someone donated markers and a notebook.”

Wohltjen came up with the idea for the Fulton Center to have the back-to-school supply drive from watching a YouTube video of a teacher who was panhandling for money for the classroom.

Wohltjen wanted to do something to help not just students but also teachers.

“We realized some teachers spend [part of their] their salary on supplies for students,” Wohltjen said.

The Fulton Center has done other drives and donations as well. In the past they had a drive for the James Brennan Memorial Humane Society and they have donated to Toys for Tots.

They plan to continue to do the back-to-school supply drive again next year.

“We always try to help the community in any type of way,” said Wohltjen.

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