What is Operation Backpack®?
Operation Backpack® is a Volunteers of America initiative to fill in the gap for children experiencing homelessness and poverty. Your donations will help us provide backpacks and school supplies to unhoused and underprivileged children staying at VOA’s emergency family shelters.
Whether you’re looking to host a donation drive at your company or make a donation on your own, you can make a difference for kids in our community through Operation Backpack®! Together, we can help ensure the children the Rochester community achieve academic success despite their circumstances.
In 2025, we raise more than $13,000 worth of backpacks and supplies to support children in our community going back to school! We hope you will join us later this spring as we prepare for the next school year.
Monetary donations continue to be accepted to help us purchase additional items as needed throughout the academic year.
FACTS & FIGURES
• On average, school supplies cost families about $80-$120 per child, depending on the grade level and specific school requirements.
• One in five school children in the U.S. live below the federally defined poverty line.
• Students from low-income families are less likely to come to school with the supplies they need, affecting participation, confidence, and academic performance.
• Well over 90% of public school teachers pay for school supplies out of pocket, without being reimbursed, according to the National Education Association.
