Jordan School District Administrators Assemble Care Kits For Students

RIVERTON, Utah – Administrators from 60 different schools across the Jordan School District met to assemble food boxes, hygiene kits, and backpacks loaded with school supplies for students in need.

They worked together Wednesday morning at South Hills Middle School in Riverton.

Peggy Margetts, who works in the district office, helped organize the effort.

“Just to think that we’ve done something so good, is going to feel really good,” Margetts said. “It’s wonderful.”

Supplies were donated by Walmart for the kits, that were packed up in boxes and made ready to be sent to each school.

“Our thought was that we wanted to convey to the kids that our administrators love them,” Margetts explained. “They do it quietly, and they do it in a way that’s respectful, so it’s not embarrassing at all to the kids. They know if they need help, they can come, and where they can come, to get it.”

Over 2,400 care kits were assembled.

Franco Preston, assistant principal at Bastian and Welby Elementary Schools, said the packages of items that may often be taken for granted, mean a lot to the students who receive them.

“For them it’s huge,” Preston said. “A lot of kids come to school hungry. A lot of kids come to school with their hair not done, or even showered, sometimes a week or more.”

District administrators take on service projects like this once a year, but Margetts said those have not been as big.

“We haven’t done anything to this magnitude before,” Margetts said. “We’ve done one thing, but to do all of them and then do this rotation is huge.”

While many of the supplies and packages will go to students at the start of school, many will also be kept on-hand so that administrators can hand them out as needed.