Sending Kids Back-to-School with Full Backpacks

Heading back to school may seem like a far-off concept for county children enjoying summer break. But a Rockville-based nonprofit is using the summer to prepare to send disadvantaged students back to class with the tools they need.

Before the first bells of the school year ring,  will donate backpacks filled with school supplies to students from low-income families.

Interfaith's 10th annual school supplies campaign, sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union, collects supplies through late August, using donations to fill each backpack with 22 different items.

“We do everything from kindergarten to 12th grade," said Julie Kirby, director of development and community outreach for Interfaith Works. "Every kid in the same grade level gets the same thing. A senior in high school gets a different thing in their bag than a kindergartener.”  

The campaign distributed more than 3,000 backpacks to students in need last year—twice the amount of backpacks given out three years ago, Kirby said. The sharp increase of students who need the backpacks seems to coincide with the current economic decline.

“What may seem like a small gesture of donating colored pencils or paper truly makes a big difference in the lives of so many children who deserve these basic learning tools," Marie Henderson, executive director of Interfaith Works, said in a news release. "More of our neighbors are living on the margins. Distributing these backpacks not only provides relief to a vulnerable family’s budget, but more importantly, provides a sense of hope and comfort."

Interfaith is searching for volunteers to host a school supplies drive for the campaign. Contact Sabrina Wilson at 301-424-3796 or swilson@iworksmc.org

Among the needed supplies are:

• backpacks
• 3-inch binders
• single subject notebooks
• lined filler paper
• tab dividers
• pocket folders
• colored pencils
• highlighters
• large markers
• large pink erasers
• glue sticks

Donations can be dropped off at the , at 751 Twinbrook Parkway in Rockville. The Center is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

For more information about Interfaith Works or its school supplies program go www.iworksmc.org.

Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly identified Julie Kirby's title. It has been corrected in the fourth paragraph. Rockville Patch regrets the error.