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School Supplies for Operation Backpack

Jul 7, 2022 | Community, Events & News

The Kids in Our Community Need You!

Let’s join together to help every child start their school year ready to chase their dreams and take on the world. Team Cleary has purchased 50 backpacks & we need your help to fill them. The Cleary Company Remodel-Design-Build in Columbus, Ohio is again hosting a school supply collection for Volunteers of America Ohio-Indiana. We’re committed to helping homeless and at-risk students go back to school with confidence.

What is Operation Backpack?

It’s giving equal opportunity to all school-aged children! Families in need cannot always afford to send their children back to school with a backpack and all of the school supplies required for them to be successful. School supplies can be last on the list when families are balancing all of their basic needs expenses, like utilities, mortgages, rent and so on. On average, school supplies and fees cost an average of $848.00 per child.

Operation Backpack Facts & Figures:

  • Last year, VoA Operation Backpack® helped more than 5,000 children enter the classroom with new backpacks and school supplies.
  • One in five school children in the U.S. live below the federally defined poverty line. In many school districts, teachers do not hand out supply lists because they know parents cannot afford it.
  • Each year, local teachers spend on average $750 buying supplies for their classrooms.
  • Ninety-four percent of public school teachers pay for school supplies, without being reimbursed, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
  • In the last 14 years, thousands of kids received more than 1,000,000 pencils through Operation Backpack®.

Top 10 Most Needed Supplies Recommended by Teachers:

  1. Pencils
  2. Pencil pouch
  3. Blue or black ballpoint pens
  4. Highlighters
  5. Markers
  6. Erasers
  7. Three-ring binder
  8. Spiral notebooks
  9. Folders (with pouches)
  10. Backpacks
Save the Date for Ohio’s State Tax Holiday is Aug 5-7th!

Click here for Operation Backpack’s School Supply List!

How Can You Help?

Donations can be dropped off at The Cleary Company office, 989 Old Henderson Rd 43220, M-F 8a-5p starting Monday, July 11th thru Monday, August 8th. Other drop-off sites include VoA Thrift stores, Columbus Public Libraries and Central Ohio YMCA locations.

Want to shop from the comfort of your own home? Shop through VoA’s online wish list on Roonga!