Homeless Children Get Backpacks Filled With School Supplies

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.

Operation Backpack®, now in its 15th year, is a community service of Volunteers of America-Greater New York (VOA-GNY) and is making 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.

More than ninety volunteers joined VOA-GNY at an 18,000-square-foot facility on Manhattan’s West Side to sort through rows and rows of tables packed to the brim with hundreds of thousands of top-quality school essentials and fill brand new backpacks with grade-appropriate supplies. The workspace has been generously donated by RXR Realty, a strong and long-time Operation Backpack® supporter.

Also on hand for the busting assembly-line style event were an 11-year old backpack recipient and her father; a 10-year old backpack recipient with his mother who will soon transition to permanent housing; Rachel Weinstein, founder of Operation Backpack®, and VOA-GNY’s Vice President of Communications and External Relations; Tere Pettitt, President & CEO of Volunteers of America-Greater New York; Paige Davis, Trading Spaces host, Volunteers of America-Greater New York Board Member; Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer; Department of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks; and Department of Homeless Services Administrator Joslyn Carter.

Since its founding 14 years ago, Operation Backpack® 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. This year VOA-GNY has expanded its campaign to include shelters for runaway and homeless youth. Forty percent of these youth are LGBTQ.

“Education is key to helping children break the vicious cycle of homelessness, poverty and unemployment,” said Ms. Pettitt. “The majority of families who are living in shelters cannot afford the most basic school supplies and this is where Operation Backpack® steps in. Over the years VOA-GNY has helped more than 160,000 homeless students prepare for the start of the school year, giving them the confidence, hope and materials they need to be successful.”

Operation Backpack® is 100% dependent on support from the community. 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.

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

More than 300 companies and community groups participated in this year’s campaign. Official sponsors this year include Walgreens/Duane Reade, RXR Realty, PITCH, New York City Department of Education, PromaxBDA, HarperCollins Publishers, Weeks Lerman, and FedEx.

“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 Volunteers of America-Greater New York, 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. We wouldn’t be able to do this without the generosity of our sponsors, all those who donated and everyone who is volunteering in this space over the next few weeks to ensure every child gets exactly what he or she needs.”

Weinstein also noted that there is still time to help make a difference in the lives of thousands of homeless students in New York City. Here’s how to help:

• Financial donations to VOA-GNY will help the charity purchase supplies necessary to fill the empty backpacks. Financial donations can be made at www.OperationBackpackNYC.org.

• VOA-GNY is seeking additional corporate sponsors for next year’s initiative. To become a sponsor, 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.