RI State, Local Police Holding Backpack, School Supply Drive For Student, Classrooms

RHODE ISLAND — State, local, and federal law enforcement agencies across Rhode Island are again joining forces to collect donations of new backpacks and school supplies to help school children in the Ocean State through the Kids, Cops, and Classroom’s project.

Rhode Island State Police, the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association, the Department of the RI Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Rhode Island will accept donations at any state police barracks and Cardi’s Furniture & Mattresses locations. These will be distributed to local agencies that work with families in need throughout the state, state police said.

State police said the goal of Kids, Cops, and Classrooms is to help ease the financial burden many families face when it comes to providing their children with the school supplies they need, while also teaching children that law enforcement officers are their friends and are in their communities to help.

"Proper school supplies and backpacks are critical to students' success in schools, and it’s no secret that the costs of these items have escalated, placing a real burden on families throughout the state," Attorney General Peter Neronha said. "My office is again excited to participate in the ‘Kids, Cops and Classrooms’ program, which will support families across Rhode Island and help ensure that our students are well-prepared and in position to succeed in the classroom. The Rhode Island State Police do a tremendous job in organizing this event every year, and we are proud to stand with them and our partners in law enforcement once again."

These are some of the supplies being sought through the Kids, Cops, and Classroom’s campaign:

• Backpacks (all sizes)
• No. 2 pencils
• Pens
• Pencil boxes
• Box of crayons
• Spiral notebooks
• Three-ring binders (1, 1 ½, 2 inches)
• Subject dividers
• Book covers
• Index cards
• Pencil sharpeners
• Assignment book/weekly planners
• Rulers (inches and centimeters)
• Protractors
• Compasses
• Scientific calculators
• Calculators
• Dictionary (pocket size)
• Thesaurus (pocket size)
• Mini-staplers and staples
• USB flash drives
• Facial tissues
• Antibacterial hand sanitizer
• Box of colored pencils
• Box of washable markers
• Highlighters
• Watercolor paint sets
• Pads of coloring paper
• Large pink erasers
• Glue sticks
• Bottles of glue (Elmer’s type)
• Safety scissors
• Two-pocket folders
• Composition books
• Wide-rule loose-leaf paper
• Graph paper.

"With communities facing increasingly tighter budgets, families are being asked to provide more school supplies for their children and their classrooms than ever before, which poses a tremendous financial burden on families struggling just to make ends meet," Rhode Island State Police Captain Kenneth Jones, who is leading this year’s Kids, Cops and Classrooms campaign, said. "We hope the backpacks and supplies we collect through this program will help ease some of this burden for many of these families, while providing children with the school supplies, they need to succeed."

State police said donations will be given to the following agencies for distribution to families: Crossroads Rhode Island; Family Service of Rhode Island; Wiggin Village; Children’s Friend; the Hispanic Ministerial Association of Rhode Island; Multi-Service Center for All; African Alliance; Mount Hope Neighborhood Association; Chad Brown Alumni Association; the Center for Southeast Asians, Narragansett Indian Tribe, and Glad Tidings.

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