MILWAUKEE – United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County, through their Backpack Coalition, have set a goal to provide 8,000 backpacks to students at the start of the new school year.
The Backpack Coalition, which brings together several organizations to collect school supplies, pack backpacks with school supplies, and deliver them to students in Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Ozaukee counties. Students in Germantown can also receive a backpack. The backpacks and their contents are free to the students.
Last year, United Way was able to distribute 7,100 backpacks as part of this campaign.
This year they hope to give a thousand more.
HSA Bank is one of the companies helping to make this happen.
Shay Fike, along with her colleagues at HSA Bank, volunteered as a pencil case packer to help families fill empty backpacks.
“I think when a student is ready to learn,” Fike said, “it’s easier for the teacher, and the teacher doesn’t have to reach into their own pockets to buy these things.”
According to the National Retail Federation, families are expected to spend an average of nearly $900 on school supplies, clothing, shoes and electronics, the second highest price tag since these figures began being tracked.
Fike said she is happy to give local students and teachers what they need.
“Living in Milwaukee County, I think it’s important that we support parents who sometimes can’t afford school supplies and work very hard to provide food for their families,” Fike said. “They may have to go without some things, so here’s an opportunity for them to get a free backpack and support what their child needs for the school year.”
“We couldn’t do this work without volunteers like HSA Bank and many other great organizations in our community coming together and packing these backpacks,” said Dan Herda, communications director for United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County. “Imagine 7,100 backpacks. That’s a lot of backpacks to pack. Without these volunteers, these backpacks would never be finished.”
For Fike, this simple gesture is about supporting the future of her community.
“These are our next teachers,” Fike said. “They may be the next employees of HSA Bank. You never know, but if we give them just this short time, they can have an entire school year of opportunity to learn.”
The Milwaukee Building-Construction Trades Council is also part of the Backpack Coalition and will help deliver the backpacks on August 20th.
Click here to learn more about the Backpack Coalition and how the public can get involved.
