Grads head for college dorms with supplies through YPIE

While getting ready for its 16th Annual Gala to be held Sept. 21 at the Barbara Walters Campus Center at Sarah Lawrence College, the nonprofit Yonkers Partners in Education (YPIE) has been helping Yonkers students get ready to go off to college. It describes its mission as helping students confront the challenges of a low-income, urban school district by providing families with equitable access to the critical tools and services necessary for college success.

One regular program of YPIE is to help ensure that numerous low-income students from the Yonkers Public Schools have the supplies they need for on-campus success. This year”™s selected recipients, many the first in their families to attend college, will be enrolled at Boston University, Mount Holyoke College, Stony Brook University, SUNY Binghamton and the University of Virginia among other schools.

For the 11th year, the Junior League of Bronxville partnered with YPIE to help the students make transition to campus life. Students were given a gift card to Value Drugs in Bronxville and a gift card to Target to complete their college dorm shopping.

YPIE again this year worked with the organization Grad Bag and for a second year with Scarsdale High School graduate Katie Han.

Grad Bag is organization that collects and refreshes dorm room essentials. It provided items for more than 100 YPIE students that were donated by graduating students from six area colleges and recycled by volunteers and student interns.

“The success of Grad Bag relies on students giving back to students,” according to Liz Gruber, co-founder of the organization. “We have students who have received items through Grad Bag who are now coming back to donate items for incoming college students as well as many who work for Grad Bag over the summer.”

Last year, while a high school senior, Han had helped YPIE provide dorm supplies and this year she asked for help from the community and gathered items such as desk lamps, sheets, comforters, power strips, shower caddies and hampers for YPIE to distribute through its YPIE College Zone. Han also donated Amazon gift cards for the students and established a special Boys Dorm Drive shopping day for male students. She’ll be attending the University of California at Irvine.

“It is important for me to make a difference in the lives of others by supporting and guiding others like the way my parents have guided me in my journey so far,” Han said. “My community quickly responded to my request, including adult members and my high school peers.”

She said that all young people are entitled to a quality education regardless of the zip code in which they’re brought up.

“It is always important to pay it forward and always believe that we can accomplish tasks when we have the right mindset,” Han said.