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backpacks
filled with school supplies were delivered to children and youth at partnering housing agencies and community organizations in 2021.
Our annual backpack program ensures that on that important first day of school, children experiencing homelessness have a brand new backpack filled with age-appropriate school supplies.
Every August, HCEF staff and volunteers sort and distribute the filled backpacks to our partnering homeless housing provider agencies and community organizations in the Pittsburgh area. The first backpack distribution was in 2006.
Email info@homelessfund.org for more information.
What Our Partners & Participants Are Saying
“Thank you so much for the beautiful book bags filled with wonderful supplies! This is such a help to the agency and the kids! Again, please accept our appreciation for your kindness!”
Homeless Provider
“I am a single mother of two children. I work a minimum wage job and needed some help for my children's school supplies this year. Thank you so much. You are godsend because you are taking so much stress off of me!!!"
Parent
“The smiles on the mothers' faces and the kids' - It brought tears to my eyes when I gave them the school supplies. The families loved the school supplies. The children were acting like it was Christmas. Nothing but smiles and hugs.”
Community Organization
Our ability to store school supplies is limited.
Please contact HCEF by emailing info@homelessfund.org before you host a drive on behalf of HCEF. We are not able to accommodate school supply donations in large quantities.
We can only provide backpacks to those in the Pittsburgh area.
If you are looking for backpacks, please reach out before the end of June before we place our order for August delivery. Due to our limited supply, we can only serve those around the Pittsburgh area, and we only guarantee backpacks to our official community partners.