The numbers are in! Volunteers of America-Greater New York announced that 20,000 children who live in New York City shelters went back to school this year with backpacks brimming with every imaginable school supply thanks to the efforts of record numbers of volunteers and corporate partners who took part in its 15th annual Operation Backpack initiative.
Operation Backpack — a community service of Volunteers of America-Greater New York — ensures that every child living in a New York City homeless or domestic violence shelter who needs one gets a new backpack filled with supplies that help them start school more confident and prepared. This year, Volunteers of America-Greater New York was proud to have expanded the program to include shelters that provide housing to runaway youth.
Throughout the summer, everyday New Yorkers and a record-breaking 2,000 volunteers and 332 corporate partners contributed to the success of the program by donating money, advertising space, backpacks, school supplies, and thousands of hours of hands-on work stuffing backpacks in a cavernous warehouse space generously provided by RXR Realty. Among this year’s first-time partners were the New York City Police Department’s Transit Bureau, which sent 40 officers to the warehouse to fill and quality-control backpacks and help children from one of Volunteers of America-Greater New York’s family shelters pick out their school supplies.
