As the dreaded ‘back to school’ signs go up around town, haunting the late summers of many a child, Hastings Family Service is again helping make sure each student has all they need going into the new school year.
Hastings Family Service has been collecting binders, notebooks and sharpies throughout the summer for its annual school supply assistance program.
Scheduling opened August 4 for those seeking school supplies, with distribution set to take place from August 19-22.
To qualify, a parent or guardian must have a picture ID and current piece of mail within two weeks or a current utility bill. Students must have proof of enrollment. If that enrollment is outside of ISD 200, proof of enrollment must show a home address within Hastings Family Service’s service area. Parents and guardians must also have knowledge of income and household expenses.
Hastings Family Service has seen a surge in need in 2025, breaking records especially for food aid.
“It seems like every month we are breaking records in the food shelf,” said Amy Tix, Program Director at Hastings Family Service.
Increased food costs not only have driven more people to seek assistance, but has affected the Hastings Family Service can offer to those who come through its doors.
Hastings Family Service no longer offers free eggs to families due to the soaring cost of eggs. While eggs have been replaced with a variety of substituted food given out to families, they showcase how even largescale non-profits can be affected by rising costs.
Tix referenced several Hastings-specific issues that lead residents towards the wraparound services of the non-profit.
Tix referenced the lack of public transportation, especially to the Twin Cities, as well as lack of affordable housing in town, even with the opening of several apartment complexes in recent years.
“Those are market rate. If you’re not making a living wage, you can’t afford that,” said Tix.
Another local pressure that has been referenced is the increased cost of water due to recent water rate increases to fund PFAS water treatment plants.
All of those financial pressures spill over into the school supply distribution.
While the numbers of students and families served with the school supply drive has constantly gone up each year, this year the number of students served is expected to break 300, a record for the non-profit.
The particulars of what students need has also shifted over the years.
Each year, Hastings Family Service gathers lists of required school supplies not only from Hastings’ public schools but from local private schools like Pine Harbor and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.
As families come in for distribution, they can reference those lists when gathering school supplies.
While staples of pencils, highlighters, crayons and erasers remain evergreen, others have fallen off. For example, “last year we had so many college ruled notebooks because people don’t use them,” said Tix.
That may come as somewhat of a surprise to those of us who best measure the amount of time since high school graduation in decades.
In the 2025-2026 school year, no grade beyond elementary school requires notebooks with the sole exception of 6th grade which requires a single composition notebook.
Instead, higher tech (and priced) supplies are often needed by both Hastings Family Service and local families. Calculators from TI-108s to TI-84s as well as corded headphones are “what we are looking for,” said Tix.
Beyond the most expensive items, the specificity of school lists can be an issue for the non-profit.
“Every year it’s different,” said Tix. Particular needs this year include 600 black sharpie markers, as well as backpacks across age groups and 3- and D-ring binders and the dividers to fit into them.
Beyond families and students, Hasting Family Service provides supplies to teachers across the district too. Teachers can take items for their own classrooms like dry erase board markers—a staple any teacher can tell you is perennially in short supply—to backpacks full of supplies to be given out throughout the year to new students or those in need.
Several local organizations have stepped up to help gather school supplies for the drive, bolstering the expected high tide of need.
“It is the most heartwarming thing,” said Dawn Marie Vihrachoff, Director of Philanthropy at Hastings Family Service.
A continued practice of the school supplies distribution is to allow students to pick their own supplies from their school’s required list.
From backpacks to highlighters to colored pencils, students are able pick what they want and that is purposeful, meant to provide a sense of ownership.
“That can make all the difference,” said Tix.