Ahead of local kids starting school this week, a regional program wanted to make sure students started prepared.
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) department for Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska distributed more than 2,000 backpacks and athletic bags to communities across Southeast Alaska. Working with Wrangell Cooperative Association, several CCTHITA employees were in town last week with 102 bags, each filled with age-appropriate school supplies to start the year off right.
“It’s a great program,” said Teresa Sarabia, acting manager for CCTHITA Employment & Training in Juneau. Because of the scale of the program, she explained members from other tribal departments pitch in to help TANF distribute its bags.
Coworkers Barbara Taug and Rhonda Mann spent the preceding week on Prince of Wales, in Skagway and other communities for the distribution.
“We were on the go,” commented Mann. This year was her first assisting the program. A Juneau resident, she said the give-away had actually gotten her around to communities she had never before visited; in the case of Wrangell, she had never set foot past the ferry terminal. “It’s been wonderful being able to experience some of our communities.”
Sarabia explained WCA provided a place to distribute the bags from, inside its Cultural Center. Wrangell’s Tribe had also picked up the bags and materials from the airport, conveying them to the site.
“It’s a great partnership with Wrangell,” she said.
Parents and guardians sign up their children for the program in advance. The bags themselves are good quality, with brands like Under Armour, Adidas and JanSport. Every bag is accounted for as they are given out, and this year the program also provided a variety of healthy snacks for the first week or two of classes.
“We bought snacks locally,” Mann added.
The school bag distribution is just one of TANF’s programs. The office largely provides financial assistance to families, while emphasizing and setting goals for work participation, education, family stability and responsibility.
Reader Comments(0)