St. Stephen's parishioners donate 65 backpacks to Catholic Charities

GOSHEN — The parishioners of St. Stephen’s Church in Warwick have donated 65 backpacks to Catholic Charities Community Services of Orange and Sullivan.
Using the donation guidelines available through Operation Backpack, parishioners prepared backpacks filled with grade-appropriate school supplies for pre-kindergarten, grades 1 – 4, grades 5-8, and grades 9-12.

Supplies

Supplies included basic items like facial tissues, hand sanitizer, pencils and paper. Packs prepared for high school students included specialty items including calculators, USB flash drives and assignment planners.
Lydia vanDuynhoven, director of Religious Education at St. Stephen’s, and colleague Marla Silbernagel, organized the backpack drive and delivered the packs to Catholic Charities Community Services of Orange and Sullivan’s Goshen location.
“We are so grateful for the generous donation from our friends at Warwick’s St. Stephen’s Church,” said Dr. Dean Scher, executive director of Catholic Charities Community Services of Orange and Sullivan. “These backpacks will help students who might otherwise have gone without thrive and succeed this school year. This is a wonderful example of neighbor helping neighbor in our community,."

Essential information

Anyone interested in donating school supplies to Catholic Charities Community Services of Orange and Sullivan for distribution to youth in the agency’s two county service area may do so by contacting Kristin Jensen at 845-294-5124, ext. 303 or kristin.jensen@archny.org or by stopping by Catholic Charities’ administrative offices at 27 Matthews St. in Goshen between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.