Keesler Federal Credit Union provides school supplies to Coast kindergarteners through Bright Futures program

As families prepare for the new school year, thousands of Coast kindergartners will have one less thing to worry about.

Volunteers spent Tuesday distributing school supply kits as part of the Bright Futures Program.

Backpacks filled with pencils, crayons, notebooks, and other classroom essentials were loaded onto trucks Tuesday morning as volunteers prepared to deliver school supplies to schools across the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Now in its seventh year, the annual Bright Futures School Supply Distribution helps ensure thousands of children have the tools they need to start kindergarten ready to learn and succeed in the classroom. Keesler Federal Credit Union Chairman James Hollingsworth said, “We did a lot of things in the community for first responders. So, in trying to expand on those things, we said where can we focus and we said education. Well, where do you start with education? Kindergarten. What can we do with kindergarten to help teachers, community, and parents? So, we came up with this idea of Bright Futures and giving these supplies back to the kindergarten children as they start off their education.”

Keesler Federal employees joined volunteers at Coastal Prints, sending supply kits to 72 schools throughout the region.

Since the program began, Bright Futures has provided school supplies to more than 90,000 children entering kindergarten across the Gulf Coast. “This is one of those win, win, win for everybody. It’s a win for Keesler being able to give back to the community which is what we do and it’s a win for the students, the kindergarteners, because they get this box of new supplies. It’s a win for the parents because they don’t have to buy the supplies. So, it’s just a win all across and then of course the teachers don’t have to walk in the classroom where some kids have some things and other kids don’t have other things. So, they all start their education off on the right step moving forward.”