ST. CLOUD -- Catholic Charities of St. Cloud won't be holding a school supply drive or distribution program this year. The Salvation Army of St. Cloud is hoping to fill the void.

Trina Dietz is the Communications Coordinator for Catholic Charities of St. Cloud. She says the “off-year” this year is so the group can re-focus.

"This will allow us to focus our resources on our core-programs at Catholic Charities, and that's our food shelf and clothing program."

Dietz adds the organization doesn’t know whether or not they’ll be able to provide the service next year.

"We know for certain that we're not going to be doing the program in 2017, we're in a position right now that we need to re-evaluate our programs year by year, so we aren't going to do it in 2017, and we'll have to see what happens for 2018."

Shannon Smithers, Volunteer and Event Coordinator for the Salvation Army says they expect a big uptick in demand this year as a result of Catholic Charities announcement.

"So we are expecting a very large increase in kids that we see come in here."

Smithers adds you could actually get your kids to help out while you shop for their school supplies.

"It could be a fun thing for a family to go out and while they're shopping to say to their kids, hey, you're a second grade girl...go pick out a backpack for another second grade girl, and have their kids actually shop for someone else."

Smithers says the Salvation Army is expecting over 1,000 kids this year, as opposed to the 400 to 500 they’ve served in past years.

Some of the biggest supply needs they have are also the most common items kids use, backpacks, notebooks, and pencils.

Dietz says Catholic Charities cannot meet its usual goal because they have not received enough material from donations. They are encouraging you to donate to other local organizations like the Salvation Army.

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