DATE: Sunday, June 15, 1997                 TAG: 9706130199

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BARBARA J. WOERNER, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   70 lines

MOM'S IDEA MAKES GETTING SUPPLIES AS EASY AS ABC

With the wrapup of this school year, most students have their minds on summer activities.

But all too soon the swimming, sports, camps and strolls along the Boardwalk will give way to the annual search by parents for school supplies. You know the scenario - crowded aisles, hard-to-find notebooks and the search for sold-out scissors or kindergarten pencils.

A similar scene on a hot night in August 1995 birthed the idea for Becky Dobson's home-based business, All Basic Classroom Supplies Inc., which she calls ABCS. She provides the supplies for you through the school.

When the frenzied search for her children's school supplies left her exhausted, frustrated and exiting the parking lot of a local office supply store at 12:30 a.m. - after finally securing a three-ring binder notebook that was on the list - Dobson wondered why someone had not come up with an easier solution than the ``scavenger hunt'' method of securing school supplies. She formulated a plan that seemed a much easier way.

``I was like a lot of others - a frustrated parent that was so tired,'' she said. ``And I just don't have the time to run all over town searching for school supplies for my three daughters.''

Dobson shared her idea with her husband, Brian and friend, Debbie Bucko, who both thought she had a great idea. Dobson decided to test the soundness of her plan outside the parameters of immediate family and neighbors. She contacted friends and relatives across the country asking them if they had problems getting school supplies in their areas.

``We found from our contacts in 23 different states that in 18 of them it was very difficult to secure the right school supplies,'' Dobson said.

Dobson's plan is simple. Schools or PTAs supply her with a customized list of supplies needed for the next school year. Students take order forms home before the end of school. In May the school PTA collects the completed order forms along with the money for the supplies.

Dobson orders supplies directly from the major manufacturers and then supply packs will be assembled and delivered to the schools in August for distribution at the beginning of the new school year.

She set the plan up so that she and the local PTAs would split the profits and it would not cost a thing for the PTAs to be involved.

``Individual PTAs can set their own markup,'' said Dobson. ``I make suggestions to them and one is not to set their prices higher than the local discount stores.''

The Dobsons did their homework while laying the groundwork for this project. They surveyed school principals, teachers and parents while designing the program. Their office is full of thick catalogs from well-known companies like Mead, Texas Instruments, Bic and Crayola that manufacture school supplies. Their three daughters, Audrey, Elaine and Shelby, helped and even ``approved'' some of the products.

Plaza Elementary was the first school to use the service. Melodie Guidish, PTA president, said it will make life easier for the parents who signed up.

``Most of the parents that we asked all thought it was a good idea because for once they wouldn't have to run from store to store,'' she said. ``It's impossible to just go to one store and find everything.''

Guidish said last year she asked her parents in Illinois to find and send a ruler her daughter needed because it was sold out locally.

Dobson hopes her business can do away with that kind of frustration.

``Our motto is `providing materials in support of education,' '' she said. MEMO: For more information contact Becky Dobson, ABCS Inc., P.O. Box

8564, Virginia Beach, Va., 23450. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by BARBARA WOERNER

Becky Dobson, top left, gets help from daughters Audrey, top right,

Shelby, bottom left, and Elaine in running All Basic Classroom

Supplies Inc.

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