Filled backpacks were delivered to Walton and Washburn schools

AUBURN – Going back to school can be exciting and stressful, especially if not prepared with the same pencils, crayons and other supplies as most of the kids.

The Auburn-Lewiston Rotary Breakfast Club decided to make those first days of school special for 20 students at Washburn and Walton schools by providing new backpacks, filled with school supplies, to the school staffs for distribution to youngsters who might otherwise have gone without.

Under the leadership of Chris Paradis, a Rotarian who works at Elmet Technologies, a team purchased the materials and delivered 10 filled backpacks each to Walton School and to Washburn School. Other team members were John Crouch Paul Dube, John Hyman, Phoebe Lowell. Larry Marcoux, Al Sargent and Cherri Waters.

The Auburn-Lewiston Rotary Breakfast Club provides nearly $30,000 a year in grants to local and international charities, with funds raised through the Trip-of-the-Month raffle, annual golf tournament in June and the Great Duck Race in August.

The group meets on Wednesday mornings at the United Methodist Church on Park Street. For more information about the club or its work in the community, contact President Michael Williams at 784-9164, ext. 3629, 1-800-927-3344, ext. 3629, or mwilliams@androscogginbank.com.