Washington, D.C.--With school starting, Congressman Eliot Engel is collecting donated supplies at his Riverdale office (3655 Johnson Avenue) to help the city’s 16,000 homeless children get the supplies they need for school.

Rep. Engel said, “I ask everyone to be as generous as they can in giving to these children. We all know how vital education is and how having the right school supplies can go a long way to helping young students learn. Homelessness can be traumatic to a child so the help we give will mean a lot.”

The Coalition for the Homeless brought a box to the Congressman’s office to collect the donations for school supplies for the rising number of homeless children now attending New York City schools.

The Coalition says that there is a record number of homeless families in the City, with 16,000 children now sleeping in emergency shelters. These children face a greater burden than most students with the worry of instability causing anxiety, depression, or social withdrawal.

The supplies are for children from pre-k through high school. They can use backpacks, pens, pencils (#2), composition books, binders, scissors, rulers, homework planners, pocket folders, calculators, dictionaries, and computer accessories, depending on what year of school they are in.

The Coalition for the Homeless is the nation’s oldest advocacy and direct services organization helping homeless families, men, women and children. Their mobile soup kitchen serves 1,000 hot meals at 31 locations every night.