School Supply Drive For Families Affected By VC Summer Nuclear Site Closure

The Midlands are pulling together to help the thousands of workers laid off from the VC Summer nuclear reactor site closure get through this tough time.

[gtxvideo vid=’ZCVJWwFA’ thumb=’http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/ZCVJWwFA.jpg’ vtitle=’SCHOOL SUPPLIES DRIVE’]

Columbia, S.C. (WOLO)–  United Way of the Midlands partnered with the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce to kick off a school supply drive for those affected by the layoffs.  

Sara Fawcett, CEO and President of United Way of the Midlands, says when one part of the Midlands is hurting, the whole Midlands suffers. So when thousands of people lost their jobs they wanted to find a way to step in and offer help.

“School is going to be starting very very soon, and if you think about it, if two weeks before school starts all of a sudden you lose your job… what’re you going to do?” Fawcett said.

When a member of United Way was at the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce meeting, the organized a way to take action.

“And he said to them, ‘how can United Way help?’ I mean, this is the kind of thing that we want to be able to do, to jump into the community where the help is needed the most. And the chamber said, school supplies,” Fawcett said. 

There are four locations you can drop off school supplies:

·         United Way of the Midlands – 1818 Blanding Street, Columbia, SC 29201

·         Fairfield Chamber of Commerce – 120 N Congress St, Winnsboro, SC 29180

·         Parke-Sterling Bank – 801 US-321 Bypass, Winnsboro, SC 29180

·         Ruff Hardware – 165 N Palmer St, Ridgeway, SC 29130

Fawcett said they are looking for backpacks, pencils, paper, notebooks, folders, erasers, and anything else needed in the classroom. She also said she will be taking her own kids out over the weekend to pick up their school supplies, and even a little more so they can feel like they helped the families affected by the layoffs.

“If you had to buy it for your child this year, buy it for those kids as well. So whatever was on your school supplies list was probably on theirs as well,” Fawcett said. 

The Chamber of Commerce will pick up the donations on Aug. 19 so the kids will have their supplies when school starts on the Aug 22. You can continue to bring donations to the boxes until the 31st.

If you are a family that was affected by the layoffs and are in need of school supplies, the chamber says to contact your school enrollment officer and they will get the information you need.