Northshore School District’s 15th annual Backpacks for Kids campaign will bring in more than 1,100 backpacks for children in need this year.

The multi-week campaign benefits local families who are unable to send their children to school with the necessary school supplies. To meet this growing need, the Northshore School District, the Woodinvile Chamber of Commerce Education Committee and the Northshore Kiwanis are coordinating a community-wide drive to collect back-to-school supplies and backpacks.

This year’s campaign will run July 11 to Aug. 1. During these dates local businesses and churches are volunteering to be collection sites and civic and youth groups are volunteering to help assemble backpacks on Aug. 7. At the end of this annual campaign, with the help of every school nurse, volunteers will distribute filled backpacks to preschool through grade 12 students.

“Backpacks for Kids is one more way Northshore is working to strengthen our community by providing students the opportunity to start the school year prepared to learn,” said Cecilia Shumate, spokesperson for the school district.

The campaign started when late Northshore School District Superintendent Karen Forys and the Woodinville Chamber of Commerce Education Committee recognized an emergent need for providing backpacks and school supplies assistance to families within our Northshore community. Their goal was to provide an opportunity for all Northshore students to have the necessary tools to begin the school year ready to learn, Shumate said.

“Backpacks for Kids began as a pilot program with two Northshore elementary schools in the summer of 2000,” she said. “The district and the Woodinville Chamber of Commerce Education Committee spearheaded a community donation drive and provided 35 backpacks to the two schools.”

Backpacks for Kids went district-wide in 2001, providing 137 backpacks. The campaign provides a new backpack and an assortment of new schools supplies for preschool, kindergarten through second grade, third through sixth and seventh through 12th grade. Families needing backpacks assistance work through their school office and schools place an order to fulfill their school’s needs.

The Kiwanis Club of Northshore became the program’s fiscal agent in 2006. They, along with the school district and the Woodinville Chamber of Commerce Education Committee, sponsor the annual Backpacks for Kids campaign.

Go to www.nsd.org/backpacks to view a list of requested school supplies and locate community collections sites. Families needing backpacks assistance should contact their school office.