A backpack full of new school supplies seems like a small thing, but to a child, it spells a fresh start for the new school year.
That’s why RISE has launched its annual “RISE Has Your Backpack” school supplies drive, for donors to contribute school supplies and for volunteers to help fill the backpacks.
RISE, a Hightstown-based nonprofit group, filled 573 backpacks last year and its goal now is to fill 600 backpacks with pencils, pens, erasers, notebooks, rulers, water bottles and insulated lunch bags.
Every backpack given to a child through the “RISE Has Your Backpack” drive is filled with new school supplies so the children can look and feel ready for the new school year, said Leslie Koppel, RISE’s executive director.
“There is something really powerful about giving a kid a backpack. It enables the child to have the experiences they deserve as children,” Koppel said. “It doesn’t matter what the child’s home is like. They have the same chance as everyone else by getting school supplies and being prepared for the first day of school.”
RISE, which operates a summer camp for children, provides each camper with a backpack, but the backpack program is open to any child who can show a report card from the East Windsor Regional, Monroe Township, Cranbury, Millstone Township and Roosevelt school districts, Koppel said.
“We do not ask for proof of income, only that the child is registered in a local school district,” she said.
School supplies that are especially needed are backpacks, erasers, pencil boxes, pencil sharpeners, safety scissors, calculators, college-ruled paper, USB flash drives, three-ring binders, highlighters, crayons, glue sticks, tape and rulers.
There are three drop-off locations for school supplies: the RISE office at 116 N. Main St., and its Greater Goods Thrift Store, 114 Rogers Ave., both in Hightstown;, and the Monroe Sports Center, 4 Farrington Blvd., Monroe Township.
With school supplies coming in to the drop-off locations, volunteers are needed to help fill the backpacks at the two RISE locations and at the Monroe Sports Center, said Maria Cunningham, RISE’s volunteer event coordinator.
“As a volunteer, it is always amazing to work with local businesses, churches and generous individuals who give to RISE and make the drive possible,” Cunningham said.
For more information about donating school supplies or to sign up to fill the backpacks, visit www.njrise.org