Parents lineup for annual San Jose school backpack giveaway
SAN JOSE (KTVU and wires) -- Parents lined up early Friday for the annual Sacred Heart Community Service school backpack giveaway.
The nonprofit organization opened its doors to 3,000 children, who will be able to select a new backpack filled with school supplies for the upcoming school year, community engagement manager Morgan Wordes said.
The distribution wwas held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the nonprofit's center at 1381 S. First St. in San Jose.
Sacred Heart has been holding the "Pack-A-Back" program for a little over 10 years to help children from low-income families.
"Even though the economy has been improving, with rents skyrocketing it's been really hard for families to get by on a monthly budget so this program provides extra support," Wordes said.
The nonprofit fills the backpacks with the average supplies listed on local school supply lists, she said.
The backpacks are compiled based on age. Older students will receive items such as USB drives and scientific calculators while younger students receive more crafty supplies such as jumbo crayons.
Hundreds of local corporations, faith communities and other organizations and individuals donate supplies for the backpacks, Wordes said.
Just a few years ago, the nonprofit was giving out 1,500 backpacks but doubled the number due to the increase of needy families struggling to support their children.
Sacred Heart generally tries to give a gift card for school shoes for each student but ran short this year and will only give one per family, according to Wordes.
"Even though the economy has been improving, with rents skyrocketing it's been really hard for families to get by on a monthly budget so this program provides extra support," Wordes said.