More than 100 of Jacksonville’s homeless children were treated to a morning of back-to-school shopping Tuesday.
The Sulzbacher Center has been holding the event for six years. Money for the event came thanks to the Sulzbacher Center’s “Cool for School” campaign.
“This is helping a lot of people in need and people that are low on certain kind of funds that help their kids get what they really need right now,” said Timothy Laster, father of three who was with his kids shopping for new clothes at Old Navy.
All the kids who receive services from the downtown center got a $50 gift card. Sulzbacher spokeswoman Linda Hemphill says the kids and their parents were bussed to the Northside’s River City Marketplace.
“Well there is the old saying, ‘new clothes make the man,’” said Hemphill. “Well, here today we’re helping ‘make the kids,’ getting them school-ready with those clothes.”
The gift cards stretched farther than normal: The kids also received discounts on the clothes, and the shopping trip was during Florida’s week-long tax-free holiday.
