WATERLOO - Irving Elementary students won't have to worry about pencils, notebooks or any other school supplies after a presentation made Friday.

Employees of GMAC Mortgage, a Partner in Education with the school, brought the supplies following a 12-day collection effort. Students gathered to hear GMAC, school and elected officials speak as the supplies were presented. Boxes filled with items such as backpacks, pencil boxes and folders were stacked on three tables in Irving's commons area.

"Physically, we had a pickup truck and a half," said Steve Sesterhenn, GMAC's director of human resources. The company collected the items as part of Community Build Day 2007, an effort by 74 companies around the nation that belong to the Financial Services Roundtable.

"We've done this before," said Sesterhenn. "This time we wanted to do a little bigger thing.

"There's about 65 percent of kids here who are considered economically disadvantaged," he added. "A lot of the kids here can't even afford school supplies. That's why we want to help them out."

"We realize that this is such an awesome gift," Principal Sharrie Phillips told students during the presentation. "Let's just make sure that we're using all this stuff and the best students we can be."

Afterward, she noted, "I've already had some parents that have expressed concern about not being able to get supplies."

Beyond that, Phillips said teachers will keep an eye on students to determine who needs supplies as the year goes on.

"I think the biggest thing is we're grateful to have supplies when they run out," she said. "A lot of these things we'll store until that time."

Contact Andrew Wind at (319) 291-1507 or andrew.wind@wcfcourier.com.