LYNN — Lynn resident Michael Quintana is working to ensure students will be ready to start school this fall.
Quintana, 32, has spent more than $700 to provide school supplies for about 2,000 children this year.
He has been donating essential supplies, such as notebooks, pencils and pens to families and community organizations all week.
On Tuesday, Quintana dropped off a substantial donation at the Gregg House on Broad Street. He had been informed by the organization’s staff that there were about 400 children in need of supplies.
Before that, he had donated supplies to Lynn-based Centerboard and has another upcoming event planned in Salem.
“This is my seventh year doing it,” said Quintana. “I come from a tough background and I understand things are not always easy especially with everything going on with the COVID situation. I had the assistance for me growing up. This is my way of paying it forward.”
In past years, Quintana has donated school supplies and backpacks to the city’s public high schools, but since students will be learning remotely this fall, he said it would have been difficult for teachers to gauge what the need was.
The remote start to the school not only prompted a shift in his donation recipients — Tuesday marked the first time he has given supplies to the Gregg House — it kept him from buying backpacks as well.
Last year, he gave out 500 backpacks and 2,300 students received school supplies. Quintana said he usually spends about $2,000, which covers the cost of backpacks and/or school supplies for 2,000 children.
“I wanted everyone to understand they have resources to reach out to,” he said.