LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The calendar tells you all you need to know. The start of school is near and store aisles are filled with parents and their children buying school supplies. But, for some parents it's a huge financial burden. That's where civic, faith and business groups are stepping up. In the greater Louisville area, more than a dozen Allstate agents banded together to organize Driven to Donate.

Debbie Williams, who owns one of the offices, said the drive will help the Center for Women and Families supply the parents and kids served at the Center's domestic-violence shelter.

Williams said, "When you've got to get all those supplies that are on that list for back to school, you're wringing your hands, going, 'How do I do this?'"

The National Retail Federation estimates last school year the average family with children in grades K-12 spent nearly $100 on school supplies. Add in electronics and clothes, and the price tag reached $630.

Lisa Lontz is a domestic-abuse survivor; a single mom with five daughters in school. Living on one income, Lontz said of the school supply drive, "It helps considerably. It frees up some money to maybe get them a little bit nicer school uniforms and stuff like that."

Driven to Donate is gathering supplies through July 29th at Allstate offices in Jefferson, Bullitt, Shelby and Oldham counties.

Williams said gift cards are welcome along with, "Glue sticks, washable markers, pencils; the backpacks are the big thing because they're a little bit more expensive. You can get a 24-pack of crayons right now for 50 cents, but a backpack is anywhere from 15 to 30 bucks."

According to the School Ready Supplies Program, more than 16 million kids live in extreme poverty in the U.S. and arrive on the first day of school without the supplies they need to learn, a statistic volunteer efforts such as Driven to Donate are trying to change.


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AUSTIN, Texas -- Tomorrow marks 20 years since the fateful events of 9/11, with followers of Islam reflecting on progress in the treatment of American Muslims.

Anger over the terrorist attacks and massive casualties led some to target U.S. Muslims, including those living in Texas, which has the fifth-largest Muslim population in the nation.

Imam Islam Mossaad of the North Austin Muslim Community Center (NAMCC), said he's seen a lot of progress in the past two decades.

"Twenty years on, a lot has changed," Mossaad acknowledged. "And there's still a lot that is the same, unfortunately, in some ways that we need to improve as societies here in the United States and all over the world, I believe."

NAMCC and Austin's Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) will hold a COVID-19 vaccination drive and soup kitchen tomorrow from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Also in Austin, firefighters will climb the Pleasant Valley Drill Tower to equal roughly the height of New York's twin towers. Locals can also climb the stairs to the city's iconic COTA Tower four times, to mimic the 110 floors of the World Trade Center.

Texas has taken in more refugees than any other state in the past decade, and will soon be asked to settle Afghan refugees, following withdrawal from the 20-year war there.

William White, manager of government affairs for CAIR Austin, hopes residents will be as welcoming as they have been to Muslims.

"The influx of refugees has been going on for the last 10 decades or so," White pointed out. "Texas has always been a welcoming home to Syrians, Afghanis, Iraqis, as well as people from all over Africa and South America, so this isn't really anything new for our Texas neighbors."

Mossaad believes one-on-one interactions are the way to create a better understanding of diverse religious beliefs.

"There is a need to keep our doors open to people, especially when they're curious and wanting to know and understand," Mossaad urged. "And likewise, the Muslims should understand people who are from other faith traditions, or from no faith tradition."

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has been largely silent on the resettlement of Afghan refugees. A Texas lawsuit to prevent additional Syrian refugees from settling there was dismissed in 2016.

NEW YORK -- With the 20th anniversary of the Sep. 11 terrorist attacks, a Catholic LGBTQ organization is launching a campaign advocating for the sainthood of Father Mychal Judge, the New York City Fire Department chaplain who died inside the World Trade Center while praying for the victims.

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which is behind the campaign, first heard about Judge in the aftermath of 9/11, when his story spread throughout the country. DeBernardo said through Judge's work supporting HIV/AIDS ministries, Alcoholics Anonymous, and as a member of the LGBTQ community, he provided support to many.

"He would really be a saint not only for firefighters, not only for recovering alcoholics, not only for the LGBTQ community, but he'd be a saint for 9/11," DeBernardo outlined. "A saint for representing all those people who suffered and died."

In 2017, Pope Francis announced new pathways to sainthood for people who have sacrificed their lives for others. Since then, DeBernardo has been in contact with Luis Escalante of the Vatican's Congregation for Causes of Saints, to research Judge's sainthood qualifications.

Salvatore Sapienza, pastor at Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ in Douglas, Michigan, got to know Judge in the late 1980s, during the height of the AIDS crisis in New York. Sapienza became involved with Judge's AIDS ministry organization in Manhattan, where they would visit people living with AIDS in hospitals and hold weekly prayers for them and their families.

Sapienza said even in life, Judge was a saintly figure.

"Mychal just had a wonderful way of seeing all people as one, because he just exuded such love," Sapienza recounted. "He really made them feel God's love, and that really was his message. His message was, 'I want you to know how much God loves you.'"

New Ways Ministry plans to contact firefighter organizations, Catholic LGBTQ groups and others to help form an association dedicated to sponsoring Judge's sainthood cause.

KEWASKUM, Wis. -- Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and you don't have to visit New York or the Pentagon to pay tribute.

Memorials have popped up across the country the past two decades, including a new one in eastern Wisconsin.

Volunteers in the village of Kewaskum have worked for the past seven years to get their memorial ready. It was formally dedicated in June with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Fuzz Martin, vice president of the board for Kewaskum Remembers 9/11, said this weekend is the first time the site will welcome visitors to coincide with the anniversary, and stressed giving residents the opportunity to reflect thousands of miles from ground zero is important.

"Just as you see Veterans memorials and Peal Harbor memorials, things like that, it is a testament to what we endured as a nation," Martin explained.

Aside from reflection, Martin noted the site also gives a chance for future generations to learn more about what happened.

The memorial in Kewaskum includes a steel beam from the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and the 9/11 Memorial Highway runs through the village along State Highway 28.

The project was inspired by the family of Andrea Haberman, a local high-school graduate who died in the attacks.

Martin pointed out the project also offers age-appropriate lesson plans and field-trip guides for educators if they want to enhance their teaching to those who were born after 9/11.

He feels it's up to everyone to keep the memory alive.

"I think we, as a nation, have drifted certainly from where we were on September 12th, 2001. I think, partially, there's some healing involved with that."

He added as time moves on, the public is more inclined to only reflect on the anniversary date.

The Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial includes a tree grown from a seedling from the ground zero Survivor Tree. The formal ceremony starts at 10:00 a.m. Saturday.