The 2024 Youth Villages Backpack Heroes campaign was a tremendous success thanks to the incredible support from our volunteers, donors and corporate partners. This annual drive is designed to provide youth in our programs with brand new backpacks filled with essential school supplies to help them start the school year on the right foot.

Nearly 600 young people in our programs received brand new backpacks filled with school supplies. The backpacks were delivered by moving company Two Men and a Truck to our offices across Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

The community really showed up this year as more than 300 individual donors purchased more than 400 items from our Amazon wish list and raised $8,667.80 through various fundraising efforts. Twenty-three corporate partners played a pivotal role in the success of this drive, holding their own backpack packing parties, sponsoring youth, creating personalized Amazon wish lists, running fundraising campaigns and organizing their own supply drives. These efforts contributed to ensuring each backpack was fully stocked with the supplies needed for a successful school year.

A special thank you to SBLI for hosting our supply workshop where all the packing magic happened. Their support provided the perfect space for volunteers to come together and make a difference.

In addition to the tangible supplies and volunteer hours, hundreds of good luck cards were created for youth heading back to school. These personal touches added a heartfelt dimension to the backpacks, letting our youth know the community stands behind them.

The success of this year’s Backpack Heroes campaign is a testament to the power of community collaboration. Every effort played a crucial role in making sure the youth in our programs had the tools they needed to start their school year with confidence and optimism.

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