APS celebrates school supply donations

Before Friday morning, Sonja Martens had only ever seen construction plans of what eventually became the Albuquerque Public Schools’ Helen Fox Building.

One wing of the building she took a keen interest in was the area where the clothing and school supply bank for APS teachers and students would be located.

Martens retired from APS in 2016, before the building in Southeast Albuquerque was completed, but as she walked through the aisles of the supply bank on Friday, she was overcome with emotion as she passed shelf after shelf full of school supplies and children’s clothes.

It’s a far cry from what it was when Martens inherited the program over a decade ago. Working as the manager of volunteer programs at APS, Martens said the supply bank then consisted of miscellaneous boxes of clothes in several portable buildings.

“Boxes were stacked on shelves from the floor to the ceiling, no sizes, no nothing,” she explained. “I didn’t have a staff person; it was just me.”

As time wore on, she was able to hire more staff and begin building relationships with schools and several volunteer-based organizations throughout the city.

One of those groups was the Corporate Volunteer Council, or CVC, an association of businesses and corporations united to promote volunteerism among their employees for the benefit of the community. The CVC holds an annual school supply drive for the APS supply bank and also raises money for the bank to buy additional supplies. Last year, more than 1,500 students received school supply kits through CVC donations, and the group has raised roughly $30,000 annually for the bank over the course of the last four years, according to a news release.

On Friday, the organization dropped off its latest donation of school supplies and a donation of $25,000 to the supply bank. In recognition of its work on behalf of APS teachers and students, the CVC was honored during a ceremony attended by Albuquerque first lady Elizabeth Kistin Keller and APS Superintendent Gabriella Blakey.

“It’s truly remarkable to think about what this means for our students, our teachers and our families,” Kistin Keller said. “(These donations) are uplifting all of the kids, the families and all of the communities in Albuquerque.”

Blakey echoed those remarks and added that since taking over as superintendent, she’s seen firsthand the impact having the right tools for school can make.

“When a family is struggling to provide the basic needs, it hurts, and these school supplies subtract at least one worry from the equation for families,” she said.

In order to get these supplies to students, school staff can fill out a referral form on behalf of a student who is in need, and the supply bank will typically provide the supplies or clothing within a week, according to Vaisu Desai Bronk, the volunteer programs and special projects manager at APS.

The supply bank also opens up its doors once a year for teachers to come and fill a bag full of school supplies they need for the year. Teachers can request more supplies as needed throughout the school year.

As Martens exited the Helen Fox Building after taking a tour of the supply bank, she wiped tears from her eyes and reflected on what this program meant to her.

“I feel like this is my legacy,” she said. “You think about all the kids that have been impacted by this. It’s extremely touching.”

Gino Gutierrez is the good news reporter at the Albuquerque Journal. If you have an idea for a good news story, you can contact him at goodnews@abqjournal.com or at 505-823-3940.