A Neighborhood Party
The Grand Finale of each summer is our annual Back to School Rally where we distribute backpacks filled with school supplies. Several churches join in on the procurement of school supplies, food, and uniforms, while local medical students often serve in a health screening tent. We also have local law enforcement and community agencies represented to give neighborhood residents easy access to a variety of community resources.
The Back to School rally has been an annual event of CDC’s since 2001. The purpose is to get kids in our zip codes (48202, 48203, 48206 and 48211) excited about the upcoming school year while providing them with essential school supplies. This past summer we distributed 500 backpack at the one day event and another 600+ backpacks to our 2 elementary schools in the community . It was a great way to launch the opening of our partner charter school, Henry Ford Academy with each child getting a new backpack (except those who attended the rally already).
Backpacks were filled with much needed school supplies and our attendance soared above the 1000 mark. Additionally, thanks to a donor, we were able to make school uniforms available for a modest $5 cost. The atmosphere is that of a big giant neighborhood party with carnival games, inflatable games, lots of food and drink, and health and dental practitioners to lend a hand too. It is never too early to start collecting school supplies to support this effort.
Donations
If you would like to make a donation of school supplies or backpacks for our Back to School Rally, please utilize the list below as a checklist for items that are needed. Feel free to make a donation at any time during the year of any of the below items and we will distribute them during our event in August.
The following is a list of supplies needed to fill one backpack. Backpacks should be of standard sizes and good quality of any appropriate color or design.