Sixth Annual Back to School Shop Event: Covid Edition

Back to School Shop, a community event organized to provide new school clothes and supplies to economically disadvantaged elementary school children in Stamford, will host its 6th annual event on Sunday, August 30, 2020 at Davenport Ridge Elementary School. This year’s event will be dramatically different than past events, due to safety concerns related to Covid-19.

The event will be a drive-thru curbside pick-up event. Families of the nearly 450 children that have been pre-registered by school social workers, will drive through the parking lot at an appointed time and receive a backpack filled with school supplies, hat and gloves, toiletries, a book, and other items to help them get ready to go back to school.

“We’ve been working since our event last summer to prepare for this year’s Back to School Shop event. The majority of the sneakers, coats, clothing and school supplies were already purchased for our traditional pop-up store event, before it became apparent that we wouldn’t be able to safely hold the planned event” said Meryl Japha, Co-Founder of Back to School Shop. “I’m so proud of our Board of Directors for quickly coming up with a modified plan that allows us to safely serve the elementary school families in Stamford who are counting on our help, perhaps more than ever this year."

Co-Chair Jane Levene added, “In a normal year over 50% of the public school children in Stamford are considered economically disadvantaged, and this is anything but a normal year. We know that these families are counting on us and our rallying cry was "Covid-19 won’t stop us from helping these children!’”

For safety, the event is set up outdoors, with the minimum number of volunteers possible and all volunteers will wear masks and maintain social distance. Families will remain in their cars and be provided with a mask if they don’t have one.

Back to School Shop, Inc. is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Stamford residents, Japha and Levene, who want to ensure that every child in Stamford, including those in difficult circumstances, experience the excitement of getting ready to go back to school. Since its inaugural event in 2015, Back to School Shop has outfitted over 1200 Stamford children with clothing and supplies for school, and mobilized nearly 1000 volunteers to organize and run the annual events.

Special thanks go to: Diamond Star Sponsors Meryl and Ron Japha; Platinum Star Sponsors Audrey Gaelen, and Jason Mager; and Gold Star Sponsors Charlesanna and Bill Ecker, Nan and Paul Gordon, The Louis J Kuriansky Foundation, and the Toby Wintrub Foundation.

For more information about the Back to School Shop, please visit www.backtoschoolshop.org