Every August, Children’s Home & Aid gears up to prepare our kids for back to school. We collect school supplies like backpacks, notebooks, binders, pencils, color pencils and folders. With help from our generous corporate partners, we were able to supply nearly 1,000 children from 11 of our programs across the Chicago-area with backpacks for the start of the new school year. On top of filling that need, we were also able to provide backpacks to more than 500 kids served by our Summer 4 Change program, thanks to our partner, the Chicago White Sox.

Over the past four weeks our dedicated partners have helped us fulfill the needs of boys and girls in our programs. A generous donation of 350 backpacks from Carol Bernick supported children in our Foster Care program, Intact Family Services, and our Rice Child & Family Center. Through office Back to School Supply Drives and purchases via our Amazon Wishlist, we received backpacks and supplies for another 550 children in our Youth Violence Prevention programs, Behavioral Health programs, three early childhood centers and our Power of Fathers Initiative.

To cap off the amazing efforts of all our donors, Children’s Home & Aid’s Marshfield office in Englewood hosted a Back to School Resource Fair and Block Party for the neighborhood on August 31. The event was a sunny, fun-filled day where families could come get backpacks, school supplies, books and toys. Children enjoyed playing games, creating art and winning fun prizes, all while eating pizza and dancing to our DJ. Collaborating organizations from the community also attended and provided resources, including Mentoring You, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago, and the Chicago Child Care Society.

Thanks to our partnerships with Carol Bernick, the Chicago White Sox, Papa John’s, William Blair, Hu-Friedy, I-Car, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the College Board, PNC, PepsiCo, MassMutual Chicago, Dashiell Corporation & Realtime Utility Engineers, and Showpad we can provide the children and youth we serve tools for a successful school year!

If you’d like to help provide local students with supplies throughout the year, you can donate here.