15th Annual Operation Backpack® Kicks Off

(New York, NY) – More than 18,000 school-age children live in New York City’s homeless and domestic violence shelters. In most cases their families do not have the resources to buy back-to-school supplies.

And even as the summer season is kicking into high gear, one local nonprofit is gearing up for September to make sure that every child living in a New York City homeless or domestic violence shelter who needs one, gets a new, top-quality backpack filled with every imaginable supply – all in time for the first day of school.

Operation Backpack®, the community service initiative of Volunteers of America-Greater New York (VOA-GNY) now in its 15th year, has outfitted more than 160,000 homeless students in New York City, grades pre-K to 12, with fully-stocked backpacks. Last year alone, the initiative fulfilled every request it received from a homeless or domestic violence shelter: 18,000 backpacks in total.

Operation Backpack® is 100% dependent on support from the community and there are several ways that the public can help. A cash donation allows VOA-GNY to purchase, at highly-discounted prices, the critically-needed, grade-specific supplies required to fill 12,500 empty backpacks that have been donated. The average cost to fill a backpack is $87 – an expense very few families that are homeless can afford. The younger the child, the less expensive the backpack; the older the student, the higher the cost, as their backpacks include a USB flash drive, geometry set, scientific calculator, and assignment/weekly planner along with all the usual supplies.

This year VOA-GNY is expanding its campaign to include shelters for runaway and homeless youth. Forty percent of these youth are LGBTQ.

Starting on Monday, July 9, New Yorkers can also participate by purchasing, filling and donating brand new, top-quality backpacks and bringing them to official drop locations across the City no later than Friday, August 3.

Here’s a sample of the many items that fill the backpacks: calculator, geometry set, spiral notebooks, composition notebooks, washable markers, index cards, 3-ring binders, subject dividers, graph paper, dictionary, glue sticks, white glue, watercolors, and USB flash drives, in addition to other essential school supplies.

“School can be hard enough for kids. Now imagine a homeless child entering the classroom without as much as a pencil in his or her hand. Not only does that put that child at a serious disadvantage, but it draws attention to the fact that they are homeless and in need,” said Rachel Weinstein, VOA-GNY’s Vice President of Communications and External Relations, and the founder of Operation Backpack®. “Thanks to Operation Backpack®, these kids get a better chance to succeed in school. With help from everyday New Yorkers, they will walk into the classroom with the school supplies necessary to do their work, looking and feeling more like their classmates and less like a child in need.”

It is anticipated that more than 300 companies and community groups will participate in this year’s campaign, with many new partners already signed on. Official sponsors this year include Walgreens/Duane Reade, RXR Realty, PITCH, New York City Department of Education, PromaxBDA, HarperCollins Publishers, Weeks Lerman, and FedEx.

Here’s how the community can help:

• Purchase and fill new backpacks and bring them to official drop locations from July 9 to August 3. Official Drop-off locations will be listed once the drive kicks off at https://www.voa-gny.org/drop-offs.

• For a list of the grade-specific items that go into the backpacks, click here: http://www.voa-gny.org/what-goes-in-a-backpack.

• The public can build fundraising teams on VOA-GNY’s behalf by going to DonateOperationBackpackNYC.org and asking family and friends to donate.

• VOA-GNY is seeking additional financial sponsors and major in-kind donors. To learn more, please contact Rachel Weinstein at rweinstein@voa-gny.org or 212-496-4305.

VOA-GNY’s back-to-school campaign began in New York City in 2002 as a small effort to collect school supplies for vulnerable children in homeless shelters operated by the organization. After growing exponentially – the result of public support – the program was re-branded as Operation Backpack® in 2004. It has become a national model and has been replicated by several VOA affiliates around the country.

###

Volunteers of America (VOA) has been at the forefront of social service since 1896, helping individuals and families in need overcome obstacles to living safe, healthy and productive lives. Locally, VOA is one of the largest providers of permanent, supportive housing in the nation. Tens of thousands of men, women, and children in need benefit from Volunteers of America-Greater New York’s life-changing, often life-saving work, including the homeless and those at risk of homelessness, families affected by domestic violence, children with disabilities, individuals living with HIV/AIDS, veterans struggling to reintegrate, and older adults. It is the largest provider of supportive housing for veterans in New York.

Media Contact: Colleen Roche, LAK Public Relations, Inc. 212.329.1413; croche@lakpr.com

Kim Esp, LAK Public Relations, Inc. 212.329.1419; kesp@lakpr.com