UH is set to aid children for their next year of school as Operation School Supply kicks off under new leadership.
Founded by the Alumni Association and the Houston Coca-Cola Bottling Company, OSS is a program which aims to provide underprivileged children with school supplies to ensure their studies. According to a 2010 UH news release, OSS has raised over $1.75 million worth of school supplies for elementary aged children since its initial launch.
“It’s been around about 20 years,” said Simon Bott, current organizer of Operation School Supplies. “(The Alumni Association) would collect a few supplies from around campus, and then HEB was a partner and people would have the opportunity to donate money to the school supply project as they checked out from HEB. It would also provide some school supplies. Coca-Cola was a partner for a long time and would put in lots of money.”
Once all the school supplies and donations were collected the Alumni Association would host an event at the Alumni Center. Volunteers would sort through, package and deliver the supplies to schools in the area.
After its two decade run, the Alumni Association lost their major sponsors and was not able to continue OSS alone. This is when Bott decided his chemistry class could take over.
“Essentially, HEB and Coca-Cola pulled out, and since the Alumni Association no longer had these big sponsors, they decided they really couldn’t do it on their own. I challenged my class to take it over and they did,” Bott said. “We have a big truck coming to deliver school supplies to about 20 schools in the immediate vicinity around UH, to about eight schools out in Fort Bend and one school district just past Humble.”
Bott said that though the organization of OSS has changed, he hopes to continue the program with the legacy it has had in the past.
“Two years ago, really the last good year (for OSS), the Alumni Association collected around $150,000 worth of supplies and had it delivered to 31 different school districts,” Bott said. “It was really a tragedy that it stopped. It was such a wonderful program. But it never went away, it’s just changed now. This year, my class collected around 14,000 items, pretty good for one class and a few boxes around campus.”
The future of the OSS seems promising and is expected to continue operating as new school years roll in.
“I’m planning to make it a University thing from on. The Alumni Association has been very helpful with it this year,” said Bott. “We had no way that people could donate money to the program because of the rules associated with donating money to the University. We got about $400 or $500 which we will give straight to a school (for the purpose of buying school supplies). Hopefully we will get in some partners as we go on.”
Dimassi’s Restaurant provided some financial support and the Clear Lake Islamic Center put out donation boxes for school supplies. The UH bookstore also donated to the cause.
