Back 2 School Program

 You may apply for your children if they:

1. Currently live with you at a Perry County address AND
2. Attend any of the Perry County school districts AND
3. You are the biological/primary custodial parent, or legal guardian AND
4. Are in good standing as a Join Hands client, meaning you have not been a no-call, no-show for other events, or have been found to have supplied us with false information on a previous application or assistance request.

After we receive your application, someone from our office will call you shortly to let you know when your appointment time is.  Please be patient. 

If you have not heard from us regarding your appointment time by July 31st, please call us asap. 

When it is time for your appointment, bring your children to the Family Life Center located at 27 West Shortcut Road in Newport and one of our volunteers will assist you.

YES!  This year, the Bread of Life Outreach (BOLO) and Join Hands have combined to offer ONE back to school program.  It will offer more items for the children and be held at a different location, the Family Life Center in Newport. You only need to fill out ONE application, either at Join Hands OR BOLO. If you filled out an application at BOLO, you DO NOT need to fill out another application at our office.

 August 5th. The Family Life Center will be open and volunteers will be ready to help your children choose their school supplies and other items on August 5th. This year it is only ONE day.

We will call you and let you know your appointment time as soon as we have that information.  If you cannot keep your appointment time, please let us know BEFORE 1 pm JULY 31st, so we can try to reschedule you.  Please DO NOT come to the Family Life Center any earlier than a few minutes before your appointment time.  You will only be able to enter the event at the time of your appointment.

YES!  Our program is designed so that your children can pick out their own items, which, this year, includes a pre-filled backpack, winter coat, clothing, and sneakers if your child is in need of a pair for gym class.  

No school supplies will be given to parents without children present (unless discussed with one of our directors and prior arrangements were made). 

All children wishing to receive items MUST be in attendance.

In past years, our Join Hands volunteers accompanied your child while they picked out their items.  THIS YEAR, our volunteers will be in attendance only to help register you and staff the event, THEREFORE, YOU MUST ACCOMPANY AND BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR CHILD AT ALL TIMES FOR THE DURATION OF THEIR TIME IN THE BUILDING.

IF you cannot attend the event on August 5th, and do not have anyone who can bring your child/ren, you may come to our office in New Bloomfield on August 7th and pick up a pre-filled backpack for them.  However, other items such as clothing and sneakers may not be available that day.

 Yes!  Any child that lives in Perry County and/or attends a Perry County School District in grades kindergarten through 12th grade can get school supplies.  However, we do not supply homeschool curriculum, or computer equipment for cyber students. 

This year, with input from many Perry County school teachers, your child/ren will receive a backpack pre-filled with supplies recommended by teachers themselves.  In addition to the backpacks and supplies, we will also be offering free clothing, winter coats, and sneakers. At this time, we are unsure if free haircuts will be offered.   We do not supply any extracurricular supplies, such as for sports or music programs.

We are unsure if free haircuts will be offered this year.  If you are interested in your child receiving a haircut, please call our office closer to the event to confirm whether we are offering them. 

Children will receive shoes at the Family Life Center when they pick up their school supplies. If we have your child’s shoe size available you may take them home the day of the event.  If your child’s shoe size is not available, we can discuss options for you at that time.  

Our goal is to provide a pair of sneakers to children who are in need.  If your child has suitable gym sneakers and doesn’t need sneakers for school, please let us know so we can give that pair to a child who does need shoes. 

If you want your child to receive a pair of sneakers at the event, please be advised that one of our staff members will be measuring your child’s feet, therefore, PLEASE make sure their feet are clean and they have clean socks on.

PLEASE call us as soon as you realize you cannot come for your appointment, we MAY be able to reschedule you if we still have openings.  But, you must call us before 1 pm JULY 31st if you need to reschedule.  

We will not be able to reschedule you during the event (August 5th).  Instead, you may come the Monday after the event (August 7) to pick up a pre-filled bag of supplies for your child.  In this case, specific supplies are not guaranteed and other items such as clothes and sneakers may not be available. Our regular office hours are Mondays 9-6 and Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays 9-1, we are CLOSED on Fridays.

You MAY designate another adult to bring your child/ren to the event, BUT we MUST know who is bringing them BEFORE 1 pm JULY 31st, and that person MUST show a photo ID. IF SOMEONE OTHER THAN YOU BRINGS YOUR CHILDREN AND WE ARE NOT AWARE OF THE CHANGE, THEY MAY NOT RECEIVE ITEMS.

No, our program provides school supplies for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Unfortunately, we are not sure. It is our faithful goal to provide each child in need a pair of sneakers, however, depending on several factors, we may need to limit the availability of sneakers.  If your child is in need of a pair of sneakers, please get your application in as early as possible.  Please, if your child does NOT need sneakers for the upcoming school year, let us know so we can give that pair to someone who is in need.  

Yes!  You can apply online or in the office, or through BOLO (Bread of Life Outreach). PLEASE only fill out ONE application for this program, either at our office or at BOLO.

A photo ID that matches the one you uploaded to the application, and all children you have on your application who wish to receive items for back to school.  Bags will be provided at the Family Life Center.

Just go to www.joinhands.help, click on “more' ', then “Back 2 School”.  Please make sure you read all the information there carefully. 

About halfway down the page, it will say “applications”, underneath it says, in green, “applications open on June 19, 2023”.  Click on that and it will take you to the online form you need to fill out. When finished, click submit at the bottom of the form.  Once we have the schedule finalized, we will call you with your appointment time. We will try our best to schedule you during your requested time.

We understand that in some cases this may be an issue.  Please upload whatever current photo ID you have, and include in the picture a utility bill with your current Perry County address.  

When our staff calls you with your appointment time, you can discuss further options if what you uploaded is not suitable.  We need to verify that you are a Perry County resident as per our bylaws, and we thank you for understanding.