Annual Backpack To School Campaign Offers Help To Students, Families

ORLEANS – Jenna Smith needed to find a capybara backpack.

 It’s just part of the job this time of year for Smith, who is now in her third year leading the Homeless Prevention Council’s annual Backpack to School program. Sure enough, Smith got the backpack, which was met with tears of joy by its recipient, a young girl set to head back to school next month. 

And that’s the essence of the Backpack to School program. Students aren’t just given backpacks full of supplies, but specific backpacks tailored to each student’s individual wants and needs.

 “It took me an hour and a half to find it,” she said of the elusive backpack. “But I’m telling you if these kids want a capybara backpack, I’m going to find it.”

For more than 20 years, the council has solicited donations to prepare backpacks full of school supplies for local students and families in need of assistance. And as the cost of materials continues to go up from year to year, so too has the number of families reaching out to take part in the annual program. Smith said more than 470 families have so far reached out for assistance through the program, putting this year’s campaign in line to top the 485 clients that were helped last year.

“Numbers are rising every day,” she said. “I actually just added seven more kids this morning.”

Staff at HPC compile a list of school materials requested both from local schools and from the families themselves. An Amazon wishlist is created, the items are delivered and staff and volunteers work to package backpacks for pickup by the specific families that requested them.

It’s a labor of love for the council’s dedicated staff and volunteers. That includes Smith, who was once a client in the program.

“It’s profound,” she said. “It’s a full circle. I know how the parents feel walking in here asking for backpacks, now I get to be a donor.”

Donated items come in directly to the council’s Main Street offices, as well as through a number of drop off locations around town. And as more people continue to come in for assistance through the program, Smith said donations will continue to be accepted into the first week of September.

Like most items, backpacks and school supplies have gone up in cost in recent years. For example, Smith said, last year the cost of a backpack full of supplies for a Nauset Regional High School student was valued at about $200. This year, the cost is between $275 and $315 on average, she said.

But the council doesn’t cut corners when it comes to providing students with supplies, Smith said. In addition to sending students back to school prepared, she said the council also wants them to feel good about the start of the new school year.

“We take pride in the backpacks we give,” she said. “We give Under Armour, we give Nike. These high school kids, they want backpacks that make them feel like they’re just like everybody else. That’s what I strive for in this program.”

Smith has the support of council interns and a team of approximately 50 volunteers, including members of the Nauset Newcomers, who help see the annual backpack program through from concept to completion.

“The volunteers are huge,” she said. “The staff is phenomenal. Between the interns and the volunteers, I wouldn’t be able to do it. And the donors. We wouldn’t be able to do this program without any of them.”

For more information on the Backpack to School program, including a list of drop-off locations, visit hpccapecod.org.

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com