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Help prepare kids this school year by hosting a drive, delivering supplies or making a monetary donation

South Hills Interfaith Movement (SHIM) is looking for donations to help provide kids in the South Hills with the school supplies they need to have a safe and successful school year. Thanks to a donation from Centimark Corporation, SHIM will distribute more than 1,100 new backpacks to local students – but will need help filling the backpacks with back-to-school necessities.

SHIM’s 2020 Back-to-School drive helped a record-breaking 1,400 students head back to school safely with the tools needed to thrive in an extraordinary year of hybrid and virtual school. SHIM’s food pantries saw a dramatic increase in need of 60 percent during the height of the pandemic. This pattern has continued and more than 2,500 people benefit from the food pantries every month. Because of this, SHIM is expecting continued increased demand at its annual back-to-school distribution.

There are multiple ways to help ensure kids in the South Hills are prepped with the tools required for a thriving school year – hosting a drive, making a donation or independently delivering school supplies directly to SHIM.

Here’s how you can help with donations by August 6, 2020:

1. Host a drive: visit SHIM’s website for resources to help set up your drive.
2. Deliver school supplies directly to SHIM’s Bethel Park Office.
3. Make a donation to the Back-to-School fund.

Not all school supplies are created equal; below are the most-needed items for this year’s Back-to School drive. Please consider these options when making a donation:

Three-ring binders (1", 1.5", 2"); Earbuds/headphones; 70-count spiral notebooks; Pencil cases; Index cards; Facial masks; Pencils; Pens; Markers; Crayons; Folders; Glue

SHIM will host the following Back-to-School distribution events where K-12 students from Baldwin-Whitehall, Bethel Park, Keystone Oaks, Mt. Lebanon, South Park and Upper St. Clair school districts will be able to pick up their new supplies, regardless of family income.

• Tuesday, August 17 from 10 am- 1pm at Whitehall Presbyterian Church
• Wednesday, August 18 from 1-4 pm at Pleasant Hills Presbyterian Church
• Thursday, August 19 from 10 am-1 pm at SHIM Bethel Park

For questions about setting up a drive or making a donation, please reach out to Rachel White, Development Assistant at rwhite@shimcares.org.

South Hills Interfaith Movement (SHIM) is a human services organization dedicated to improving the lives of people in need across the South Hills.  This includes working to reduce the devastating effects of suburban poverty among the working poor, unemployed, families, single parents, senior citizens, women, and the high concentration of refugee families in its service area.  SHIM works to identify the most critical needs across the South Hills, then develops and implements effective solutions.  SHIM aims to empower individuals and families to achieve stability and self-sufficiency by offering short-term help with basic needs (food, clothing, utilities) and longer-term support (employment, financial planning, youth programs, family support) to help people build and sustain promising futures.

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