About 600 students at Padonia International Elementary School received a new backpack and a year’s worth of “core” school supplies Monday as part of a donation by the Towson office of Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc.
The Cockeysville school received the supplies from members of the PRMI Giving Network, a new service initiative of the mortgage company, according to PRMI spokeswoman Kandice Davis.
The PRMI Giving Network partners with nonprofits to help communities and raised about $15,000 to purchase and stuff the backpacks that were given to Padonia.
About 20 representatives from PRMI and the Ohio-based Kids in Need Foundation, which chose Padonia to receive the supplies, dropped off 600 backpacks full of markers, pencils, colored pencils, glue sticks and other “essential” supplies during a surprise afternoon assembly Monday, Davis said.
The foundation’s mission is to ensure that children are prepared to learn by providing free school supplies to students most in need, according to its website.
As a Title I school, Padonia International has a large population of low-income students, principal Melissa DiDonato said Monday. The replenishment of school supplies in the middle of the year is “awesome,” she added.
Though children might start the school with all the supplies they need to learn thanks to donation drives and parent purchases, supplies get depleted as the school year goes on and not all families can afford to replace them, DiDonato said.
“Our kids were thrilled with new markers and colored pencils,” DiDonato added. “When kids feel good about the things they have to work with they feel good about how they’re learning.”