Help Us Send Kids To School Prepared

Each August, the Samaritan Community Center distributes 3300 backpacks to low-income families to help insure that their children are fully prepared with the items they need on the first day of school. This not only gives them the supplies required by the school, it helps them with a positive attitude towards the new school year when they can walk in with a new backpack and everything they might need!

We are strong believers that education is key when it comes to breaking out of the cycle of poverty that so many NWA families face. Minimum wage jobs will no longer provide enough resources for housing in our community let alone everything else an individual needs (utilities, food, insurance, gas). Our children must continue their education to include technical school training or college if they are going to have financial stability as adults, and we believe that investing in something as simple as backpacks and school supplies can help set the tone for this each school year!

We currently have a unique opportunity to purchase very high quality backpacks from a local vendor at an average cost of $4.60 per backpack including freight ($1400) but the order must be in the next month to have them in time for this year's BackPacks for Kids Day on Saturday, Aug. 4.

In past years a local company sponsored the cost of our backpacks but we recently learned that they have decided not to underwrite the cost of the backpacks ($20,000) this year. We have school supply drives set up (and vendor donations) that should provide us everything we need to place in the backpacks, we just need the backpacks.

Your donation of $100 will purchase 20 backpacks. We believe in the value of education and want to do our part in instilling hope in these at-risk children. Will you prayerfully consider joining us?

To learn more about BackPacks for Kids, visit our website at www.samcc.org/whatwedo/backpacksforkids.