Operation Backpack®

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As an anti-poverty organization working to end homelessness, we know that helping children succeed in school is critical to breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty. We also know that having a full complement of school supplies plays a role in higher rates of homework completion, class participation and, ultimately, graduation.

For more than 20 years, VOA-Greater New York has given tens of thousands of children experiencing homelessness a sense of normalcy during the back-to-school season through Operation Backpack®, a program that provides backpacks and grade-specific school supplies to every student living in a New York City homeless shelter. The kindness and generosity of supporters like you enable us to provide them with the supplies they need to have a successful academic year, just like their more privileged peers.

This year, thanks to your support, we provided school supplies to 15,000 children living in NYC shelters, sending the message that they are important and we are invested in their future.

About the Campaign

Operation Backpack^® is a community service of Volunteers of America-Greater New York with the goal of ensuring every child living in a New York City homeless shelter has the school supplies they need to succeed in the classroom—and beyond!

One of the most devastating consequences of homelessness is the impact it has on a child's education. Frequent school transfers and the stigma associated with living in a shelter add up to great hardship for children. If not for the school supplies provided by VOA-Greater New York, many of these students would begin the school year with another disadvantage: unlike their classmates, they would enter the classroom with few, if any, school supplies.

But the community in New York City and beyond has the opportunity to change this story by supporting VOA-Greater New York in the form of financial underwriting, donations of product and services, and word-of-mouth to engage others in the Operation Backpack® campaign. Each year since 2003, VOA-Greater New York has been distributing new backpacks filled with grade-specific school supplies to homeless children throughout New York City. This year, thanks to the generosity of thousands of people who live in, work in, or otherwise care about New York City, we believe that we will be able to give a full complement of school supplies to every student living in a homeless or domestic violence shelter who needs them.