Students are always in need of school supplies.

The Women of Woodbridge – that’s the active retirement community of Del Webb Woodbridge – provided a generous donation on Thursday morning to French Camp Elementary School consisting of everything from pencils, marker pens, glue sticks, backpacks and even hand sanitizers.

The latter is equally important to the classroom during this time of COVID-19 and other viruses.

Last year, the Women of Woodbridge provided similar-type donations to another Manteca Unified campus. “Because of the pandemic, we had to drive up and deliver (the backpacks and school supplies) to a drop-off area of the school,” said Linda Little, who is a retired teacher.

She along with Marybeth Saari and Terri Heath, on behalf of Women of Woodbridge, dropped off about 35 backpacks filled with school supplies, in person, in the French Camp Multi-Purpose Room. Students personally expressed their appreciation to the Del Webb Woodbridge group.

MUSD conveniently packed each of the backpacks with the supplies necessary for classroom instructions.

The Women of Woodbridge have donated thousands of items to MUSD thanks in part to events such as the annual Tea Party and Take A Sip for Scholarships – 10 graduating seniors each year are awarded with $1,000 scholarships.

French Camp Principal Rene Knapp was thrilled to see her students being on the receiving end of the Women of Woodbridge generosity.

“Our students can always use more school supplies,” she said.

The recipients of the backpacks / school supplies are done by a student request or by referral from a teacher.

“Who doesn’t want a new backpack,’ said Knapp, who has been the top administrator at French Camp for the past four years.

Her campus, in addition, is undergoing construction with permanent classrooms made possible by voter-approved Measure G and scheduled for completion in February.