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Salvation Army helps to pack backpacks for school

Starting Monday the Salvation Army is accepting applications for their yearly backpack program.
Salvation army
Depending on the year the Salvation Army provides 30-60 backpacks to families with lower incomes. Photo submitted

Starting Monday the Salvation Army is accepting applications for their yearly backpack program.

“This program is to help offset the costs for parents in lower income families at this time of the year,” said Jane Anne Ireland, who is responsible for community family services with the Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army cannot provide all school supplies that the students will need during the year, but they do their best to make sure that all kids have at least the necessities.

“A backpack and many other items will be provided in those backpacks ready for pickup on a designated day,” said Ireland.

Those who will fill out the application can expect to receive a backpack with loose leaf paper, one or two-inch binders, white erasers, rulers, pencils, pens, crayon, markers, doutangs, exercise books, dividers, glue sticks and a pencil case. The items may vary depending on the grade of an applicant.

“It’s a basic supply list… It’s a start. It’s not the whole list that they will need at each school. Different schools, different teachers may have a different list. So the reason why we have a basic list that we put in to the backpacks is in order to help the parents to have a start for their school supply shopping,” said Ireland.

Donations of school supplies, as well as monetary donations, allow the organization to make sure that they help as many people as they can each year.

Since the Salvation Army will need some time to get all supplies in, get everything organized prior to the beginning of the school year, and also allow parents some time to finish filling up the backpacks, they will stop accepting applications in the middle of August.

“We have the deadline of August 16, the Friday, so that way we can take a count for numbers and figure out how much we need of the variety of different supplies that we do purchase if we haven’t received them as a donation or otherwise,” explained Ireland.

The program is developed for kindergarten-Grade 12 kids from lower income families. Parents will need to have their application in by the deadline. The application can be filled in and dropped off Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

People who applied will be informed about the details of when to pick up their backpacks later in time.