Posted on September 28, 2017 The Coalition for the Homeless recently completed its 10th annual Project: Back to School, our school supply drive for homeless girls and boys. Throughout the months of August and early September, hundreds of caring individuals, organizations and volunteers were hard at work in the CFH office packing brand new backpacks with school supplies and getting them ready for the girls and boys who need them most. Thanks to everyone who participated, we were able to deliver more than 4,000 school bags filled with essentials like crayons, rulers, notebooks, binders and even scientific calculators. We couldn’t have helped so many kids without our wonderful and generous partners. Manhattan Mini Storage joined us for the 10th straight year by allowing caring New Yorkers to conveniently drop off supplies at their many storage sites throughout the city. In total, they collected and helped us sort an astounding 20 extra-large boxes of supplies! Again this year, Huntington Learning Center graciously hosted drop-off sites at their locations in the five boroughs and promoted the drive widely on social media. The UFT, another long-time partner also donated 27 boxes of school supplies, including much-needed calculators. We can’t express enough thanks to the Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and Congressman Eliot Engel, who hosted drives at their offices in Queens and in the Bronx, giving New Yorkers living in those boroughs a way to easily get involved. We surely couldn’t have distributed so many backpacks to so many boys and girls in time for the first day of school without the hard work and generosity of our corporate partners, including AIG, who filled 1,000 backpacks in just a few hours, and delivered them – ready to go – to the Coalition’s offices; and Bolla Oil, who held a festive party for our Bound for Success class and delivered all the backpacks needed for the shelter where BFS is located. Thank you also to volunteers from Tory Burch, Telstra, Seimans, and so many more – we really appreciate all of your hard work! Tonight, 23,000 children will sleep in New York City homeless shelters. Living in a homeless shelter can be devastating for a family – but for a child, the experience is especially traumatic. Thanks to our amazing supporters, thousands of kids know that someone is there rooting for their success and that there are better days ahead. Thank you again to everyone who volunteered and contributed to this year’s Project: Back to School!
