Just a month away is the day that children and teenagers mostly dread, the opening day of public schools. But ready or not, that day will arrive for them, and preparations are probably underway in most households.

In some of those homes, preparations are likely to strain budgets that stretch from paycheck to paycheck. New clothes and shoes are both required, not so much from the demands of fashion as from the result of growing larger. And the students will need notebooks, pencils, crayons, backpacks, and all the other items that go along with them when the bus arrives in the morning.

Our area has shown for many years that it cares about getting its young people to the classroom in good clothes and with adequate equipment. It seems to us that the back-to-school efforts put on by kind people and kind organizations are getting more thorough each year.

Whether you have children in school or not … if you have the financial ability, it would mean a great deal to the up-and-coming g...