Families in the Santa Maria-Bonita School District’s Migrant Education Program received brand-new winter jackets for their kids during the program’s annual distribution event on Wednesday.
Parents, some with small children in tow, trickled in throughout the evening to pick up boys and girls jackets in different sizes, all purchased from Costco and donated by Driscoll’s Berries and Reiter Farms.
Program organizers had enough jackets to supply the 160 requests sent by parents, along with some extras just in case.
“It’s been going on for the last six years,” said Migrant Education Program health clerk Alejandra Villalpando. “We had a rush of people right at the beginning.”
Santa Maria-Bonita’s Migrant Education Program provides services to over 3,600 migrant families in the district, including field trips, after-school extended education and literacy programs.
Later this week, 400 parents in the program who completed a computer literacy training program will receive a brand-new Chromebook from the district in another distribution event, said program director Eduardo Panting.
