Mail donations to:
Backpacks for Kids
P.O. Box 232
Dover, Massachusetts 02030
Email: backpacksforkids@comcast.net
The Backpacks for Kids Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing children in need with backpacks and school supplies for the upcoming school year. Founded in 2001 by students of the Dover Sherborn High School in Massachusetts, Backpacks for Kids donates to children in the Greater Boston area and beyond.
As the economic crisis in our nation becomes more and more severe, families are forced to make decisions regarding how money is spent. When a family has to pay for heat, food, and rent, purchasing school supplies is often not the highest priority. The stigma of poverty has an enormous effect on children, especially when their peers do not live under similar conditions and are able to return to school each year with new backpacks and supplies. Unlike other charities that have many overhead expenses, 100% of the donations received go directly to the children in need.
Over the past six years, the Backpacks for Kids Foundation has donated 2223 backpacks to children in need as identified by the Service Councils in the towns of Boston, Natick, Ashland, Needham, Cambridge, Framingham, Wellesley, Dorchester, Worcester, Braintree, Medway, MSPCC, and the Department of Social Services in Attleboro. Each donated backpack has an average retail value of $100 totaling over an incredible $220,000 worth of school supplies to children in need.
The Backpacks for Kids Foundation relies on the kind donations from the community and from various retail stores in order to provide the school supplies to the children. Since there are always more children in need, our goal this year is to donate over 500 backpacks filled with school supplies.