Back-to-School 2024
By providing backpacks and school supplies to those who are economically disadvantaged, we are ensuring every student begins the school year equal to their peers by removing barriers to learning that may exist due to lack.
Our Back-to-School event in Texas is open to all families within Central Texas. In 2023, families from over 20 different school districts attended our event, for a total of 850 children served. There is no registration required and families do not have to show proof of income, address, or status to receive items for their child. Our event in Virginia is currently set up in a rural area as a drive-thru backpack/school supply event only, attracting families in need from all over the northern Virginia area. In 2023, we distributed nearly 1000 backpacks. Finally, our backpack distribution in Georgia is through Cobb County Schools, which distributes the items to students identified within the first couple weeks of the school year as having a need. In all, 1,950 backpacks were distributed in 2023.
For 2024, our goal is to provide 2,500 backpacks full of school supplies in the same three areas sated above, as well as other areas in need. While this is not a significant increase in the number of children we will be providing for, we are aiming to increase the amount and quality of school supplies that will be included with each backpack. The supplies provided in previous years were enough to get the student started in the new school year, but we estimate those supplies to have run out within a couple of months. By providing more supplies, we hope to get the students through January, at minimum. This will allow parents to be able to better provide a quality Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday for their children instead of having to worry about purchasing more school supplies.
In the past, we have relied on the community to donate school supply items for inclusion in the backpack. While this has been fairly successful, we have found that there is no consistency in the items we receive (i.e. 8 ct crayons vs. 24 ct crayons, loose leaf paper vs. spiral notebooks, etc.). In addition, these donations account for less than half of the needs; we rely on our sponsors and donors to provide the funds for us to purchase the remaining items. By funding the entire backpack portion of our Back-to-School project monetarily, we will be able to purchase all the school supplies in bulk, at a wholesale price. This will allow us to, as previously stated, purchase more supplies to fill the packs and each of them will be identical in what they contain.
With our bulk and wholesale pricing, we will be able to purchase 2,500 backpacks with a 60-piece supply kit in each for approximately $30,000. An additional $5,000 in event costs (equipment rentals, snacks/drink for each child, guest speaker, advertisement, etc.), and $5,000 to purchase shoes, undergarments, etc. for the students that attend, brings the total cost of this event to approximately $40,000