The Suffolk Sheriff’s Office will collect school supply donations on Friday to help local students and teachers get ready for the upcoming school year.

The school supply drive will be held Friday at the Walmart on North Main Street. Suffolk sheriff’s deputies will be at each front entrance to collect any and all school supplies that shoppers are willing to donate.

These supplies include — but are not limited to — pencils, paper, notebooks, bookbags, hand sanitizer, Ziploc bags, and anything else a child may need during the school year. This also helps teachers save a bit of their own money they would otherwise spend on classroom essentials.

“It’s to help those students that need regular supplies for whatever reason, but also to help the teachers out so it doesn’t fall on them to make these purchases,” said Katie Jones, community engagement coordinator for the Sheriff’s Office.

These school supplies will be delivered to Nansemond Parkway and Elephant’s Fork elementary schools on Monday. Teachers will then distribute them to children that need them the most.

Citizens have been very generous with their donations in previous years, according to Jones, and the Sheriff’s Office hopes that generosity continues this Friday to get as many kids prepared for school as possible.

“We greatly appreciate anything that is donated,” Jones said, “and I’m sure Suffolk Public Schools does as well.”

School supplies will be collected from 8 a.m. to noon this Friday at the front entrances of the downtown Walmart, 1200 N. Main St. Call the Suffolk’s Sheriff’s Office at 514-7840 for more information.