Community Groups Donate Backpacks to Students

Almost 2,000 Hoboken children from low-income homes will start the school year with brand new backpacks after a gift from some community leaders.

The United Way of Hudson County, which runs the backpack program, obtained donations from the Rotary Club of Hoboken, member businesses of the Hoboken Chamber of Commerce and others to give the backpacks filled with supplies to students at the Brandt, Calabro, Connors and Wallace schools for the start of the new year.

The backpack program, which also includes Jersey City, is in its second year. This year the program raised $120,000 to purchase 19,000 backpacks, an increase from the 7,000 donated last year.

Several of the sponsors gathered in Superintendent Mark Toback's office at the Board of Education building on Friday afternoon.

Superintendent Toback highlighted the need for the supplies among Hoboken's low-income students.

"Hoboken is a wealthy city, but not all of its residents are wealthy," he said. “For many this is a very meaningful and proper setup for the start of the school year."

Freeholder Anthony Romano, who helped organize the giveaway, thanked the donors, which also included Academy Bus and the Provident and TD Banks.

“There was never a blink when they heard it was for the school children,” he said.

The two-pocket brown backpacks, embossed with the United Way logo, each include a notebook, folders and several pencils, among other items.