Multi-districts — It was a beautiful day to pack backpacks with school supplies for over 10,000 Kent County students at the Storehouse of Community Resources’ inaugural Big Backpack Build event.
More than 150 volunteers from Kent School Services Network, Amway, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Corewell Health, Ada Bible Church and other local businesses and organizations gathered at LMCU Ballpark to fill backpacks with pencils, notebooks, folders and fun surprises.
“The Big Backpack Build addresses the reality that for many West Michigan families, outfitting their students to go back to school is a financial burden,” said Jessica Johns, Storehouse executive director. “We want to ensure as many students as possible can start school ready to learn with the supplies they need to be successful in the classroom.”
Established in 2010 inside a church pantry, Storehouse of Community Resources is a nonprofit that connects schools and nonprofits with new, donated corporate goods to meet the needs of families in West Michigan. It supplies more than 120 low-income schools with learning materials.
The project also serves as an extension of Storehouse’s Teacher Store, which gives educators from low-income schools and districts access to free school and classroom supplies.
Coordination and Collaboration
KSSN coordinators from Grandville, Godfrey-Lee, Godwin Heights, Grand Rapids, Kenowa Hills, Kentwood and Sparta public schools worked closely with Storehouse to identify items students in their buildings really needed.
Following the collecting, organizing and packing of donations at Storehouse, KSSN, Amplify GR and local schools and churches coordinated efforts to make sure students received their backpacks in time for school.
Johns explained how Storehouse is one of many nonprofits that see a need in the community and want to meet it.
“With so many groups, churches and organizations, we see a lot of duplicated efforts to collect and distribute donations, but no coordination,” she said. “Our goal is to grow this coordinated effort with other businesses and organizations and hopefully in the future do it as one big annual event and streamline our distribution.”
After spending a few hours stuffing backpacks, Kenowa Hills’ Alpine Elementary KSSN coordinator Kim Poplaski said she was excited to help distribute the backpacks to students.
“I love seeing the community come together for our kids,” Poplaski said.
Hayley Strickland, Challenger Elementary’s KSSN coordinator in Kentwood Public Schools, said she was blown away by the amount of donations from the community.
“Seeing the smiles on kids’ faces when they get to have their own backpack, that will make it all worth it to me.”
Read more from our districts:
• Program punctuates removing barriers, keeping students in school
• Teachers Stock Up on Class Supplies, with Help
