Kids Tools for School collection drive

Hundreds of schoolchildren throughout Queens, Brooklyn, Nassau and Suffolk Counties will have school supplies for their first day of class thanks to the efforts of Astoria Federal Savings’ 8th Annual Kids Tools for School collection drive.
For the entire month of August, Astoria Federal Savings has collected new school supplies as well as cash donations at all of its local branches and it will donate all of the supplies to various schools throughout the region.
“The community has been very generous,” said Tom Day, Assistant Vice President and Branch Manager of the Jackson Heights Astoria Federal Savings location.
“When it’s for kids, everyone wants to help out.”
Astoria Federal Savings has collected more than six tons of school supplies throughout the eight years of collecting, and according to Tara Rogers, Senior Manager of Public Relations, the number of items collected has increased over the years.
“We’re growing every year,” Rogers said. “We are always getting new partners involved.”
Some of this year’s supporters include The Queens Courier, Queens Chamber of Commerce, Long Island Rail Road and Girl Scout Council of Greater New York.
Recently, Rogers and Day visited The Queens Chamber’s corporate headquarters to collect baskets of supplies that the Chamber staff collected.
“It’s important to make the children who don’t have the means to buy supplies when school opens feel comfortable and show them that they are the part of the team and part of the group,” said Chamber Interim Executive Vice President Sophia Ganosis.
In addition to the staff collecting supplies, Ganosis said that the Chamber sent out a mailing to its members encouraging them to participate in this year’s collection.
Meanwhile, Astoria Federal Savings agreed to match up to $10,000 in cash donations that the program receives and use that money to buy supplies in bulk for children.