COUNTYWIDE : A Lift for Homeless School Kids

Getting ready for school this year will be easier for the more than 100 homeless children who attend the county’s mobile classroom, thanks to the help of Fair Share 502, a charitable organization of local lawyers.

On Tuesday, members of the group gathered at the law offices of Kindel & Anderson to fill 150 backpacks with school supplies. All will be donated to the mobile school program.

“We are so excited . . . when we see organizations like this helping,” said Red Balfour, principal of the mobile school, which began operating about six months ago. “This is what the homeless need to know--that the community cares.”

A conference room was quickly turned into an assembly line as volunteers stuffed crayons, construction paper and rulers into the backpacks.

The group had raised about $4,000 to purchase the supplies. And some local businesses got into the act by contributing paper and other “stuffers” for the project.

This is the second year that Fair Share 502 has raised money for the homeless. In that time, it has given away more than $80,000 to local charities and programs. A major chunk of the fund raising proceeds last year went to Costa Mesa’s anti-poverty group, Share Our Selves.

“We picked the homeless because we couldn’t think of a group more under-represented,” said Fair Share board member Glenn Dassoff, a managing partner at Kindel & Anderson. “It was one group we knew we could make an impact with and see the results.”

The backpacks will be distributed in September when the students enroll, Principal Balfour said.

He added that he hopes to attract as many children to the mobile classroom as possible this year. According to county estimates, there are 1,500 homeless children in Orange County. Begining this fall, the classroom will have two full-time teachers.