CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS – More than 17,000 Coastal Bend students will start school with the supplies they need thanks to Operation Supply Our Students (SOS), an initiative spearheaded by United Way of the Coastal Bend in partnership with H-E-B and KRIS Communications.
Now in its 31st year, Operation SOS is a community-wide fundraiser and school supply drive that provides basic school supplies to students in Bee, Brooks, Duval, Jim Wells, Live Oak, Kenedy, Kleberg, Nueces, Refugio and San Patricio counties.
A total of 43 public school districts will receive supplies through this year’s Operation SOS:
- Agua Dulce ISD
- Alice ISD
- Aransas Pass ISD
- Austwell-Tivoli ISD
- Banquete ISD
- Beeville ISD
- Ben Bolt-Palito Blanco ISD
- Benavides ISD
- Bishop Consolidated ISD
- Brooks County ISD
- Calallen ISD
- Corpus Christi ISD
- Driscoll ISD
- Flour Bluff ISD
- Freer ISD
- George West ISD
- Gregory-Portland ISD
- Ingleside ISD
- Kenedy County-Wide CSD
- Kingsville ISD
- La Gloria ISD
- London ISD
- Mathis ISD
- Odem-Edroy ISD
- Orange Grove ISD
- Pawnee ISD
- Pettus ISD
- Port Aransas ISD
- Premont ISD
- Ramirez Common School District
- Refugio ISD
- Ricardo ISD
- Riviera ISD
- Robstown ISD
- San Diego ISD
- Santa Gertrudis ISD
- Sinton ISD
- Skidmore-Tynan ISD
- Taft ISD
- Three Rivers ISD
- Tuloso-Midway ISD
- West Oso ISD
- Woodsboro ISD
Once received, administrators within each school district work to ensure that the school supplies go to students with the greatest need. “We’re humbled by the number of individuals and businesses who have graciously donated school supplies, money, or their time to Operation SOS,” said Libby Averyt, President and CEO of United Way of the Coastal Bend. “Thanks to their generous support, we’ll be able to help many students start the school year with the basic tools they need to be successful.”
This year’s event has been aided by community support, as well as H-E-B, KRIS Communications, Bank of America Foundation, Carr, Riggs and Ingram CPAs & Advisors, Chemours, First Community Bank in Portland, First State Bank of Texas, Friends 4 Causes, The Hidden Door Corpus Christi, Hilliard Martinez Gonzales, HOLT CAT Corpus Christi, the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation, Kleberg Bank, NuStar Energy, Port Corpus Christi, Rosendin Foundation, The Selena Foundation, Turner Industries, Valero Corpus Christi Refineries, Zachry Engineering Corporation-Corpus Christi Office, Zachry Group at Cheniere and Zachry JVIC.
Those wishing to support Operation SOS can continue to do so through August 17, 2021. Donations can be made online at www.uwcb.org or by texting “SOS” 91999. Donations can also be made when shopping in-store or online at H-E-B. One hundred percent of the funds donated to Operation SOS will go toward the wholesale purchase of basic school supplies.