The NAACP is accepting donations for its School and Recreational Supply Drive to replace educational materials destroyed by Hurricane Gustav at local facilities.Ashlyn Thompson, committee service chair, said she noticed students were working with damaged supplies while she worked at the Senator Circle Educational and Recreational Program as part of service learning for her family and consumer sciences class.

Some supplies were mildewed from hurricane flooding. Some reading materials were outdated, and some supplies were old.

As a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Thompson rallied the group and her FACS class to get involved in organizing a school supply drive for the recreational center.

Sponsors began collecting donations for the drive on Sept. 1 and will continue through Sept. 15.

Students, including those outside the NAACP and FACS classes, can bring new school materials to the Student Government Association office in the Student Union.

The drive is accepting educational items, including flash cards, folders, paste, scissors, color pencils, crayons, notebooks, pens, pencils, rulers, markers, hi-lighters and coloring books. Recreational items that can be donated include chalk, jump ropes, sports balls and board games. Guns of any kind and explicit materials will not be accepted.

In October, the NAACP will also begin collecting coats for children.

For more information on when and where local drives are held, visit www.NAACP.org. Donations can also be made through the NAACP Web site.