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Students to students: College volunteers reach out to kids in need.

Starting school without that perfect set of supplies isn't fun. Thanks to the contributions of the Miami Benefit Club and BBA+ Weekend cohort seventeen, a large number of area homeless kids began the school year on the right foot by having the right items at hand.

The Miami Benefit Club delivered 140 book bags, many filled with school supplies for elementary students, to the Community Partnership for the Homeless, one of the core groups the Club supports. Before they were dropped off, the bags were stored in the office of Randall Martin, Department of Management and International Business, who has worked with the Club in the past and offered the project as an incentive in one of his courses.

Also, the 21 members of cohort seventeen of the BBA+ Weekend at the Pines Center in Pembroke Pines raised about $2,000 from family, friends, and employees, then used the funds to buy packs and school supplies. Each BBA+ Weekend cohort does a community project of its choosing as part of the Business Ethics course, taught by Robert Hogner ("Dr. Bob").

"Dr. Bob went with half the students to make the purchases," said Jennifer Reid, office manager of the Broward Pines Center and a member of the cohort. "The other half went to Broward County Central Homeless Assistance Center/Huizenga Family Campus to pack the bags."

Their efforts netted 57 bags for high school students, 45 for middle school students, and 35 for elementary students.

As temporary shelters, both the Community Partnership for the Homeless and Broward County Central Homeless Assistance Center are holding many of the bags in reserve.

"The population is changing all the time," Reid said. "By having a stockpile of packs, new kids who enter the facility during the year will have a pack waiting for them."