DE PERE, WI (WTAQ) – Back to school shopping is in full swing and for parents having to check off all the items on their child’s list, the cost can really add up.
When it comes to the shopping part, Abby Baetke of Neenah tells FOX 11 she has a strategy.
“We kind of have done bits, and pieces of it, and we didn’t want to do it all at once, and overwhelm myself or my son,” said Baetke.
She says between pencils, pens, and new gym shoes, it’s something that her family usually budgets for.
“I mean it does add up in cost, I won’t say it’s terrible, but yea it’s definitely something. It’s August, we got to put a little money aside for this,” said Baetke.
Stephanie Warnke, who teaches 6th grade in the Howard-Suamico School District, says she also has to budget for school supplies.
“Just knowing that some students aren’t going to have everything, so what they don’t have we can supply that for them,” said Warnke.
The Brown County Salvation Army says school supply lists for one child can cost up to $100. That’s why they have programs like Tools for School, which provides school supplies for lower income families.
On Monday, Shopko and the Greenleaf-Wrightstown Optimist Club each donated $500 worth of school supplies to the program.
Nan Pahl with the Brown County Salvation Army says each donation makes a difference.
“This program really gives children the opportunity that they blend in just like everybody else. So they get that, and they say my crayons smell so good, because they have that new crayon smell,” said Pahl.
