BELFAST — Waldo Community Action Partners (WCAP) is going digital with a new application process for their annual backpack and school supplies distribution for the 2024/2025 school year.

Historically, each new school year, WCAP has given away backpacks that are filled with grade-level appropriate school supplies to children from eligible households throughout Waldo County. Until now, the application process to determine eligibility began with obtaining a paper application from WCAP or a local town office.

“The paper applications were a lot of extra work on both the applicant side and the administrative side,” said WCAP’s Development Director Monica Pettengill, in a news release. “In addition to having to physically obtain a copy of the paper application and fill it out by hand, you had to then figure out how to get the application back to the office. Then, on the administrative side, all information contained in the application had to be transposed into our software. This left too much room for human error since sometimes handwriting is difficult to read or information might be missing.”

The closest WCAP had come to a digital application to this point was a fillable pdf that still needed to be printed and returned to WCAP and still required someone to retype all the data into a separate software. The new digital application, that can be found at waldocap.org/waldo-cap-backpack-school-supplies-program-2024/, streamlines the process. In fact, preliminary testing of the application shows that a family with two to three children can complete the application process in less than six minutes.

“Education is the great equalizer, and we feel all children should start the school year off with the tools they need to be successful,” said Pettengill. “We really wanted the process to be as simple as possible for all families so that the application itself would not be a barrier to applying for this program. People can fill these out using their cell phone if they do not have a computer.”

Households that are below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level in income and that are residents of Waldo County with children who are school-aged are eligible for the backpacks and school supplies. WCAP will host four distribution events by appointment throughout Waldo County in early August where children can come with their family to choose their backpack. Applicants can choose their preferred appointment location at any of these distribution events: Tuesday, Aug. 6 at Mount View School in Thorndike; Wednesday, Aug. 7 at the Burnham Town Office; Thursday, Aug. 8 at LeRoy H Smith School in Winterport; or the week of Aug. 12 – 16 at the WCAP offices in Belfast, Suite 111B.

“It’s easy for backpacks and school supplies to cost a family up to $50 per child. It adds up fast, especially when you have multiple children in a household,” said Pettengill. “This program helps alleviate that burden for families.”

Paper applications are still going to be available for people who may not have access to a computer or cell phone. They are available by contacting WCAP offices or by visiting a town office.

For more information about WCAP’s Backpack and School Supplies program, please contact Community Partnerships Coordinator Kristie Hamlin at 207-338-6809, ext. 1302 or by email at communitypartnerships@waldocap.org.

About WCAP: Waldo Community Action Partners is a charitable, educational, 501(c)(3) private non-profit organization located in Belfast, Maine. It is designed to utilize and mobilize public and private resources to assist low-income Waldo County residents in the alleviation of poverty and address its underlying causes. For additional information, please visit www.waldocap.org.