"We collected thousands!" Generous donors at State Fair will help kids get through the school year

WEST ALLIS (WITI) -- Thanks to some generous donors, hundreds of kids in Milwaukee will have new school supplies this school year.

The supplies were donated during UW-Madison Day at the Wisconsin State Fair.

This is the fifth year for the school supply donation event.

A former UW-Madison student came up with the idea.

Besides the 141 bags full of donated school supplies, they also collected over $10,000 to buy new school supplies.

"These tools will go on for the rest of the school year. We're not giving out one pencil. We collected thousands of pencils, erasers, papers, glue sticks, backpacks, coloring books. We collected every item a child would need from Ziplock bags to sanitizer," Parent Specialist Consultant Bama Grice said.

Students at six central city schools will benefit from the school supply drive.