[for those who don’t get the joke:… the above line is a cute, (but a bit overstretched) reference to Monty Python]
Of course they’re not redistributing backpacks, what they’re doing is dumping all the pencils and glue sticks in a bin and then the kids go get them as needed. Like, I seriously doubt they’re “redistributing” everything back to the kids (if everyone brings one ruler and one box of crayons, how is that going to be “redistributed?”) And for that matter, these kids have no shortage of “fun” pencils and erasers…my kids have a huge bin of pencils with designs, which they have gotten at birthday parties, trick-or-treating, attached to Valentines…it’s like the #1 favorite little trinket to give away. It won’t hurt anyone to share their Ticonderogas, and I have about 0% patience with parents (and it’s always the parents) who get their panties in a wad about it. The kids don’t mind sharing.
I’m 45 and I remember doing that in elementary school.
Accepting a donation isn’t begging or choosing.
Giving away something that’s not good enough for you (any more) isn’t sharing between equals. (Younger siblings tend to recognize this eventually, and justifiably wonder when they might have something of their own.)
Have you ever made or accepted a needed donation?
That I don’t know. My kids went to a different school where that was not done.
Yeah, OK…just to clear things up for you that’s not how it works. Small items like pencils are communal, big items, if kids can’t afford them, they hopefully get from school supply drives like mentioned in the OP.
Suddenly I feel old. Fourty years ago I was one of the few people who carried a backpack to school.
Okay, my kid’s school does something like this, and it’s not for big ticket items like backpacks; it’s for stuff like you said, like glue sticks. They don’t put their names on glue sticks – while I think one goal is to make sure that every kid has access to a glue stick, the larger impact is that each kid can grab a glue stick when needed, and the teacher doesn’t have to waste time while a bunch of seven year old kids search for their glue stick, or can’t find their glue stick, or their glue stick is dried up because the cap fell off, or need an extra glue stick because they left theirs at home, etc. It is “grab a glue stick from the glue stick bin” and at the end of the project, it is “put your glue stick back in the glue stick bin.”
An adult might feel that way. Kids, not so much. All they know is that the rest of the kids in their class have new backpacks with cool cartoons characters on them and they have worn out, faded ones.
I wonder if the Spencer’s backpacks aren’t as durable. When I was little, the backpacks with characters were made of a mixture of vinyl and thin cloth that would be cracked and beaten to hell by the end of the school year. They weren’t suitable for carrying the heavy pile of books that a high schooler need(s?). At that age, kids moved on to the sturdier backpacks made by L.L. Bean or Jansport that could last for years. Which would be important for kids who might not be able to get a spot in the giveaway next school year.* That was a long time ago, though so maybe kids don’t have to strap 10 lbs of books on their backs anymore.
*Which is a major reason why it’s nice for these kids to be given new bags.
I didn’t notice any Jansport or LL Bean backpacks on the tables just a lot of generic blue, pink, and green. The only name brand stuff had sports logos on it.
I haven’t been in a Spencer’s for a while but I imagine they sell the same stuff as Hot Topic? That store is really popular with the kids. It’s all the superhero, cartoons, musician type merchandise. Parents probably turn up their noses at it since it may be cheaper quality stuff but the kids go ya-ya over it.
Yeah, since it sounds like the reaction was specifically about the Spencer’s tag, my best guess would be that the woman considers this to be basically a porn shop even if they do sell inoffensive backpacks as well.
Exactly. You get a room full of 24 third graders. 4 of them will be neat-freaks whose desks could be models for my own. 8 of them will be more-or-less able to keep their crap together without much support. 8 of them will need significant support from me to keep everything together. 4 of them will be hopelessly disorganized and will lose everything the moment they get it.
If you need everyone to have a glue stick, and if everyone keeps their 6 gluesticks in their desk, maybe 20 of the 24 students will have one when you need them to; the other 4 either don’t participate in the lesson, or they delay the lesson while you try by hook or by crook to locate one for them to use.
If you need everyone to have a glue stick, and if all the glue sticks are in a tub, two kids pass out the glue sticks while another two kids pass out the construction paper and everyone else gets out their science notebook and turns to the page on plant life cycles (or whatever). At the end of the lesson, two of the four hopeless kids might have lost the caps to their glue sticks, but since they’re all going back in the tub, you might find out right away and can get everyone to look under the desks until the caps are found.
I speak with years of experience to say that this method is far superior.
Are you really calling impoverished children beggars?
“Those little brats should be grateful for my Care Bears backpack from 1986!”
Teens definitely still shop at Spencers, and Hot Topic. Well they at least look around anyway. Me too.
Check for things like double-stitching and thick material on backpacks. I think I bought my kid a Jansport backpack at a sporting goods store because they seemed to be better quality than other stores.
Heck, yeah! They just sold it on ebay for seventy times its original ticket price! 
Oh, I know. I have kids myself. I was replying to PoppaSan’s grumping that kids can’t have nice backpacks or pencils because the Communism Monster will eat them.
Oh ha ha I figured you knew that, was just trying to drive that point home. 