By JESSICA SIEFF
Niles Daily Star

Students at Eastside Elementary School in Niles will start their week next week with some much needed new school supplies.

Friday afternoon a special delivery was made to the school by Niles’ own Lowe’s home improvement store.

“Lowe’s has done this for two years now,” said Eastside teacher Emily Iwanuik.  “Last year they donated just to the special education department.”

This year, school supplies such as markers, rulers, pencils, pencil sharpeners, scissors, colored pencils, notebooks and loose leaf paper will again be donated to the special education department and their students – but any left over items will go to general education students.

“If anybody needs anything,” Iwanuik said.  “We give it to them.”

The amount of school supplies that come in from Lowe’s is significant.

“It’s huge,” Iwanuik said.

Friday afternoon, Lowe’s employees delivered the shipment of donated goods to the school.
“It’s very helpful,” said Iwanuik.  “Especially nowadays when families can’t always go out and afford lots of things.”

Getting supplies into the hands of students can also be a challenge for teachers like Iwanuik.  The Eastside special education teacher said that the department does not require materials for special education students, so they rely heavily on donations and even purchase necessary items through their own “personal budgets.”

“The biggest thing is to not have to ask the kids for anything else,” she said.

Now students at Eastside Elementary School can rest assured they won’t have to.