At the Student Support Network, we love helping Baltimore County Public School students who are living in poverty gain access to the supplies, food, clothing, and personal care items they need to be ready to learn, feel confident, and make the most of their time at school! We partner with 14 schools across Baltimore County and distribute basic necessities to students through our Rooms of Support at each school. Student Support Network is a small but mighty nonprofit, operated mostly by volunteers!

While the COVID-19 pandemic kept kids physically out of schools at the end of the 2019-2020 school year and through the entire 2020-2021 school year, we shifted how we serve. Student Support Network operated mass food distributions to help prevent food insecurity for kids and families with limited income, and we gave out more than 3.5 million meals! 

Now, students are physically back to school, but with more than a 10% increase in the level of poverty across Baltimore County in the past year, many still live in great need. When children come to school without all of the supplies on their list, wearing ill-fitting or worn out clothing, in need of deodorant or period products, or worried about if there will be dinner on the table that night, it is nearly impossible for them to learn. Being unprepared in these ways - by no fault of their own - can make children feel stigmatized, low on energy, hopeless, and alone. 

You can help students in poverty succeed at school and be their best! Through our Back to School, Still in Need campaign, we are raising $500,000, which will enable us to open and operate Rooms of Support in TWENTY schools across Baltimore County this year. 

No gift is too small! Here is how your donation will help: 

• $15 buys a cap & gown for a graduating senior (Everyone deserves to be outfitted right on this important day!)
• $30 buys a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste for 15 kids (Phew, no worries about bad breath!)
• $50 supplies 10 students with a thermometer to monitor their health (A sense of control during COVID)
• $100 provides food security during winter break through a grocery gift card (Vacation should be enjoyed!)
• $250 outfits 5 students with a winter coat, hat, and gloves (Brrrrr!!! Winter is coming!)
• $500 gives 2 children with beds and bedding when moving out of homelessness into a new home (Sweet dreams!)
• $1000 lets a group of students take an academic field trip to experience what life at college is like (You can do it!)

When you donate $30 or more, we'll send you a pack of Student Support Network pencils in our signature colors, so you can recall our gratitude with every shopping list, napkin note for your child's lunchbox, or to-do list you write. 

Read our  Back to School, Still in Need: Campaign Statement to learn even more about poverty in Baltimore County and how Student Support Network - and YOU - make a difference!