The start of the new school year might be entering the minds of parents and children as July nears an end, but for the folks at Eastside Community Ministry, preparing students for school is a daily mission. 

Year round, the staff and volunteers look for deals on school supplies and backpacks to ensure hundreds of school kids throughout Muskingum County can head to class ready to start learning on the first day. 

“We shop all year round for it. We always try to be prepared,” said Executive Director Jamie Trout.

This year, Eastside Community Ministry hopes to serve over 1,000 students when backpacks are distributed on Aug. 1. 

“It’s not just like a generic backpack, it’s actually specifically packed for whatever classroom they’re attending,” said Trout.

Already, 998 students have registered to receive supplies through the Tools for School campaign with several wait-listed as more supplies are collected.

In years past, the ministry could not help as many children due to limited supplies, but that’s not the case in 2019. 

With the help of community partners such as the Muskingum County Library System, Century National Bank, The Community Bank, People’s Bank and North Valley Bank, donation boxes were set up at various locations in the county. 

Additionally, McHugh Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Fiat has pledged to donate $50 from every sale in July to the effort. 

“I thought, that’s something that I think is important and I wanted to be involved in, and it’s probably one of the most rewarding projects our dealership gets to participate in,” said owner Tim McHugh. “There’s a lot of kids that, unfortunately, just for whatever reason they’re going to school and they don’t have those things.”

McHugh said he was inspired to help when he learned about Tools for School in 2013, especially since his mother was a teacher. 

“I think it makes a big difference,” said McHugh. “It would be awful hard for my mechanics to come to work and do the job they’re supposed to do if they didn’t have the tools they needed.”

In the past six years, McHugh has donated portions of sales to the campaign and has volunteered his time to help assemble the backpacks. 

“It’s a pretty big endeavor to do. A lot of volunteers. A lot of people,” said McHugh. 

Without the help of volunteers, Trout said the program would never be possible. 

“A lot of our volunteers are retired teachers, and I think they just kept talking about it and thinking that this is a project that needs to happen,” said Trout. “They do all the registration, all the shopping, they schedule all the backpacks to be packed, so it’s like really a cool thing.”

Backpacks will be distributed to registered students on Aug. 1 at Zanesville Middle School.