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With about 100 more students than originally anticipated and a growing population of homeless or nearly homeless children, Springhill Lake Elementary School can use all the help it can get — and the Greenbelt Rotary Club is happy to offer its assistance.

In an effort to help low-income families pay for school uniforms, the club donated a check for $1,000 to the school in September. The GRC was founded in 1988 for professional men and women who either live or work in Greenbelt. In addition to providing scholarships to Greenbelt and surrounding area youth, it also aids various schools in the city.

"I really don't know what we would do without the Greenbelt Rotary Club," said Chris Wichtendahl, the school's Special Education Coordinator. "A lot of people give things here and there, but we always know we can rely on the Greenbelt Rotary Club."

Wichtendahl said the school really appreciated the closet full of school supplies that the rotary constantly keeps stocked.

Those supplies were especially needed by seven students who were displaced by the fires at Empirian Village on Saturday. The fire caused about 100 people to lose some or all of their belongings.

"We keep the closet full all the time with backpacks, paper, glue, pencils, everything," said Helen Svensen, the school liaison for the rotary club. "Those children who need something can contact a teacher to get the key so they won't have to worry about going without."

Because the school has 100 more students than they originally anticipated, every room in the school is being used except the gym, because of structural issues. Svensen said the students are forced to use the halls on some occasions when club members act as volunteer readers at the school. In an effort to provide more seating for the students, Svensen recently secured desks and chairs from a closing travel office in Largo.

"The school is terribly overcrowded, and we have a lot of volunteers to work with the children in reading and math," Svensen said. "We're also hoping to get some screens, because before they would just have to set up card tables in the hall and the children get terribly distracted."

In the future, the GRC is also planning to landscape the front of the school into a butterfly garden; continue to collect toys for the Lions Club Christmas drive held at Beltway Plaza; collect clothing and food for the homeless; collect postmarked stamps for the group Deaf Reach to use in fundraising; send junior or senior high school students to Rotary Youth Leadership Awards; and give two full scholarships to the Prince George's Community College.

The club has also donated dictionaries for every third grade in 12 area schools for many years, including all the schools in Greenbelt.

"For some of these kids, this is the first book they'll ever own," Svensen said. "It's just wonderful to see their faces when they find out they get to keep the books."