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Whittier Street Health Center’s Back to School BBQ
Whittier Street Health Center’s Back to School BBQ
Let’s give a major cheer for another school year!
Back to school season is in full swing and many parents are searching for answers as to how they will pay for their children’s school supplies. According to Deloitte’s 2022 back-to-school survey, parents plan to spend an average of $661 per child for back-to-school shopping this year, up 8% from 2021 and 27% from 2019. Clothing and accessories lead the increase, costing 18% more this year on average. School supplies cost 7% more. In 2022, 33% of parents reported being in a worse financial situation than the year prior, compared to 22% who said the same thing in 2021. As the cost of maintaining a household with children continues to soar, so do the concrete needs of our community.
To provide some needed relief to families, on Friday August 26th from 2pm-6pm, Whittier Street Health Center in partnership with GE Aviation, will hold their annual Back to School BBQ in the health center parking lot at 1290 Tremont Street, Roxbury. The Back to School BBQ has been a Whittier tradition since 2003 to provide the students in our community with materials needed to ensure they are ready for the start of the school year. The event is also an opportunity for families to connect and enjoy their community with a day of food, fun and celebration.
Whittier’s patient population consists of a diverse group of individuals; 92% of them live below 200% of the US poverty level, additionally 83% of them live in public housing. That is why events like our Back to School BBQ are so important because it offers families a refuge from worry about how to prepare students with what they need for the upcoming school year. This year, with the incredibly generous contributions from GE Aviation, we will be giving away over 500 backpacks filled with school supplies including folders, pencils, pens and spiral notebooks to children under the age of 18.
Accepting new patients!
Pediatrics department: 617 858 2436
Behavioral Health department: 617 858 2430