African-American Club Seeks to Help Out Lacoochee Elementary

Darryll Stevenson spent Friday morning working with members of African American Club of Pasco to deliver some supplies to the students at the struggling Lacoochee Elementary School.

Stevenson, president of the African American Club, said the club is partnering with the Bunco for Backpacks project to bring backpacks, school supplies and personal items to students at the school.

“It’s a needy school,” Stevenson said. “The students are short when it comes to school supplies, so it was a perfect fit for us.”

 The Bunco project, led by New Port Richey area local Debi Shackowsky, donated a great deal of the gifts to the school and African American Club members donated the supplies.

The African American Club delivered supplies to the school Friday.

The donations include backpacks, bags, personal items, markers, crayons, rulers and more.
 
Stevenson said he wants have the African American Club adopt Lacoochee Elementary and is going to be talking to the principal there about how the club can help out.

Lacoochee has attracted a lot of attention this year as educators have tried to improve performance there. Pasco School Superintendent Kurt Browning opted to re-staff the school when it was announced it was receiving its third consecutive “D” grade.

The school is heavily populated with low-income students and also has a significant minority and Spanish-speaking student population.

Stevenson said he wants to work with Lacoochee throughout the year

“We’re trying to fill those voids such as today with the lack of school supplies,” he said.  “But, also the students can have contact with folks who look like some of the kids who are there. Now they can see some folks who are positive, not just the athletes on TV, not just the rappers on TV.

Shackowsky has led the Backpacks for Bunco project donation project for many years. She said the Bunco donation to the African American Club included at least 50 backpacks, 240 reams of paper, 500 spiral notebooks, and numerous purses and other supplies.

Shackowsky’s overall back-to-school project benefited six agencies, 20 private referrals and 22 schools  this year, she said.  She collected 455 backpacks this year, she said.