Backpack Giveaways Set at Community Centers

PALM SPRINGS — Back-to-school can be exciting as youngsters choose new boxes of crayons, brightly-colored pencils, and the all-important accessory — the backpack.

Equipping pupils for a new school year can also tax a parent’s wallet. Basic supplies can quickly add up.

With that in mind, the Desert Highland and Demuth Community centers will host two neighborhood “Back to School & Looking Cool Backpack Giveaways” on the following dates:

• Thursday, Aug. 1 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center, 480 Tramview Road.
• Saturday, Aug. 3 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Demuth Community Center, 3601 E. Mesquite Ave.

The giveaways are free to youth in the Desert Highland and Demuth neighborhoods with the goal of collecting 50 backpacks full of school supplies for students in need at each center.

Items necessary include pens, pencils, three-ring binders, highlighters, colored pencils, wide rule/college rule paper, sharpeners, markers, pencil pouches, folders, crayons – and of course, backpacks. In addition, the event will include local barbers and stylists to cut hair.
Anyone interested in donating school supplies can help in the following ways:

• Collect supplies in a box at your business and call the Demuth Community Center when it is ready for pick up. Desert Highland requests items be dropped off at the center located at 480 Tramview Road.
• Drop off donations at the ONE-PS Meeting on Thursday, July 11, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the facilities lunchroom at the City Yard, 425 N. Civic Drive.
• Drop off items at Palm Springs City Hall, 3200 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way,
  8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday – Thursday, through Wednesday, July 31.
•  Donate money directly to the Demuth or Desert Highland centers and staff will buy the supplies.

“The City of Palm Springs encourages our residents to donate to these important giveaways for our students in the Demuth and Desert Highland neighborhoods,” Cynthia Alvarado-Crawford, the City’s director of Parks and Recreation, said in a prepared statement. “We want to ensure when school starts again these students are looking and feeling good — and have everything they need to succeed and shine bright.”

For more information, call the Desert Highland Unity Center at (760) 416-5716 or the Demuth Community Center at (760) 320-6430.