Whatever Cler-Mont Elementary School’s children and teachers needed to start the school year — Karen Rutherford just wanted a list.

Rutherford and Niki Nelson with the Government Employees Health Association (GEHA) office in Independence would take it from there.

“I’m a shopper,” Rutherford said. “I was everywhere shopping. I loved it.”

Pencil boxes, dry erase boards, children’s headphones, water bottles, hand sanitizers, glue sticks, flip charts, markers, erasers, paper clips, staples, scissors, pencils, crayons, tape . . .

When Rutherford and Nelson — senior data representatives at GEHA — “put their heads together” to think of some way for GEHA to help their Independence community, they wanted to help children and teachers in the Fort Osage School District.

And when LINC’s Caring Communities Coordinator Steve McClellan went to pick up everything they gathered for the school, it was a bit overwhelming.

“I didn’t know it was this much,” he said.

It took a full SUV with the seats folded down to carry it all.

It is a great gift for Cler-Mont, Principal Ryan Souza said. It’s a school with some 360 children, served by a staff of 54, nestled in a neighborhood where many of the children walk to school.

Many families have trouble getting the supplies they need, Souza said, and it is expensive for teachers — and the school — to fill in the gaps, Souza said.

“We are very thankful for the donations,” Souza told Rutherford and Nelson when they visited the school in early August. “Our teachers’ eyes are going to be in tears.”

Rutherford said she had called LINC in May because she knew LINC supported Fort Osage Schools, and McClellan went to the principal and the teachers to compile their list of supply needs for the coming school year, then passed it on to Rutherford.

“It was a joy to do it,” Rutherford said. “We hope you all have a wonderful school year.”

The community partnership is important, Souza said, because relationships like this help sustain schools’ missions and also are learning opportunities for children.

“Our kids learn when we connect with our community partners,” he said. “They can see other careers and other ways to donate . . . and how organizations are donating to their community.”

McClellan has kept a storage area in his LINC office in Cler-Mont filled with donations of clothing and supplies to help children throughout the year, and GEHA’s contributions to the school will help children and teachers have a more successful school year.

“They are so benevolent,” he said. “They’re getting ready to be my community partners for life.”

By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer

Video edited by Bryan Shepard