As families prepare for the start of another school year, People Loving People helped ease one of the many expenses that come with sending children back to the classroom at its annual backpack drive at the People’s Pantry of Oyster Bay.
People Loving People, a nonprofit based in Oyster Bay, gave backpacks and school supplies on Wednesday to families who use the pantry, giving children a chance to choose a new backpack while helping parents reduce the cost of school necessities.
According to Adriana Kennedy, People Loving People’s executive director, the organization has held the backpack drive for the past four years. The effort began when volunteers and staff recognized the financial burden for families buying school supplies.
“The costs of school supplies and backpacks is ridiculous,” Kennedy said. “Like, a backpack is $60.”
The school supplies are donated throughout the year by community members, churches and civic organizations, including the Main Street Association and the Community Foundation of Oyster Bay.
Typically, Kennedy said, People Loving People gives away 120 to 130 backpacks, but this year the pantry had about 350 — enough to accommodate additional families, including some grandparents who picked up backpacks for their grandchildren. The organization planned to share any extra supplies with other communities in need.
“Whatever we have left over from our families, we share them with … any community that needs them,” Kennedy said. “We’d rather help them now, and next year we worry about next year.”
People Loving People’s assistant director, Ariana Sainez, said that donations — of notebooks, loose-leaf paper, binders, pens and pencils, sharpeners, erasers, highlighters, tape, pencil cases and other necessities, as well as backpacks — come from a variety of sources, and are brought together at the Oyster Bay pantry.
It’s important, Sainez said, that children have a variety of supplies to choose from — backpacks, for example, that feature their favorite characters and designs.
“I look at it as like a shopping experience,” she said. “So it’s like if a kid were to go to a store and wants to choose their backpack, they should be able to have the same experience here.”
Kennedy also described the effort as a dignified way for families who are struggling financially to shop for their kids. And, she said, giving children a choice of backpacks can help shield them from the stigma associated with needing assistance.
“It’s nice to be able to have the kids just come in and choose their backpack,” she said. “Do they want a Mario? Do they want a Barbie? Do they want, you know, a simple black one?”
Taryn Peel, a volunteer who has worked at the pantry for about six years, said that the backpack drive grew out of a recognized need among the children and families the facility serves. Peel got involved when the First Presbyterian Church, in Oyster Bay, where she is a congregant, offered the pantry space for its operations during the coronavirus pandemic.
The community’s involvement, Peel said, extends beyond donations. Some people who initially come to the pantry for assistance later return as volunteers after getting back on their feet.
“For these wonderful people that are working hard and trying to give back, we have people that give and then give back again,” Peel said. “It’s a community of volunteers. I didn’t know any of these people till I came here, and we all become so close working together, supporting each other, and just giving back in a way that you love.”
Kendria Norman, an Oyster Bay resident for 18 years, came to the pantry Wednesday to pick up backpacks for her children. It was the second year she has taken advantage of the drive.
With three children, Norman said, the assistance helps offset the rising cost of everyday expenses. “It’s very helpful,” she said. “A lot of things are getting expensive, and so it does help with bills and stuff. It helps you meet those little ends and odds. It’s not everything, but it does help.”
Norman added that the pantry’s work also reflects the willingness of Oyster Bay residents to help one another.
For Kennedy, the backpack drive represents a broader mission of making families feel supported. “It’s giving the families dignity and respect,” she said. “Like it could be any of us, any given day.”
For more information about People Loving People, visit PeopleLovingPeople.net.
