Ready or not … it is time for Mississippi kids to head back to school.
Of course, that also means it is time to buy new clothes and school supplies. For parents that can be a daunting, expensive, time-consuming task. But for grandmothers like me, shopping for school supplies is a yearly adventure filled with laughter, good food, and lots of cash.
Last year’s school shopping excursion was one of the highlights of the year for me, as our youngest grand had only one item on her request list – a specific type of water bottle. Not only had our girl thoroughly researched and vetted the “best” water bottle on the market for middle schoolers (especially those who think they are grown), but she also knew the one and only place where this holy grail of water bottles could be purchased.
So, what did this ol’ Yaya do?
Well, I hightailed it to said retail facility and purchased the princess’s water container of choice – a very classic, sedate, off-white colored bottle.
Then, we proceeded to purchase a few more unsolicited items for school, even a couple for her brother back home. Finally, we headed to eat at the restaurant of choice, which thankfully for me, was just as impeccably well-researched as the precious water bottle.
Of course, the day was not complete without ice cream and lots of posed pictures for social media – one of which the princess said she took of me just in case she needed it in the future to remind me of this amazing date.
I doubt I will ever forget that day because of the absolute joyous fun we had and because of the amount of dollars we spent on one, simple water bottle. I am also sure that I will remind her of this excursion one day in the future when she has to buy some crazy, unneeded, and outrageously expensive items for her own children and grandchildren.
Speaking of cash, I admit a water bottle is not a necessity, and I readily remember the days as a parent when it took a big part of our meager budget to furnish the required school supplies for our boys. So, on that day last year, I recognized and appreciated the fact that our girl’s momma only allowed her to ask for one item during our school shopping trip.
And as a retired school teacher, I also know how much of their own hard-earned money that our state’s teachers spend to keep their classrooms furnished with the basics of pencils, pens, paper, markers, crayons and such.
But Mississippi does have resources available from various non-profit organizations to help parents and teachers with back-to-school supplies. In the past, the United Way of Northeast Mississippi (UWNM) accomplished this worthy goal through its annual backpack giveaways at various locations throughout the eight counties it covers. In fact, last year, UWNM gave away 3,200 backpacks to area students in kindergarten through sixth grade, with 250 children being offered additional school supplies.
But this year, UWNM is taking a different approach with school supplies, in order to help MORE Mississippi students and their teachers right inside their classrooms. The 2025 Back 2 School Project used donations to purchase school supplies wholesale, and then, United Way volunteers packed and distributed the items to go directly to area schools.
In fact, earlier in July, through the help of corporate sponsors and Back 2 School donors, volunteers prepared supplies for 58 schools in the UWNM’s 8-county region. Amazingly, those supplies included over 165 cases of paper, 235 cases of pencils, and 232 cases of glue sticks which were delivered to area pre-K through 6th grade schools.
If this part of the Back 2 School project is new to you, it’s not too late to help with these efforts. Simply go to https://unitedwaynems.org/b2s/ and make a donation.
After all, even the smallest donation will help ensure that all Mississippi students have the basic school supplies needed to have fun while learning.
*All photos courtesy of United Way Back 2 School Project
