It’s that time of year again where children flood the trains and buses in their brand-new gear with notebooks and sharpened pencils in tow. It’s back to school for NYC kids and New York Cares is donating school supplies across the city as part of their Stand With Students campaign.
Founded in 2020, Stand With Students aims to provide NYC public school children with not only academic support, but also with social-emotional and supplemental programs that help address learning gaps and inequities. This year, the campaign hopes to raise $500,000 and distribute 20,000 backpacks.
“That’s a big number, but the need is even greater,” Sapreet K. Saluja, executive director of New York Cares, told amNY Metro during a recent giveaway at P.S. 171 Patrick Henry in East Harlem. “They get to pick any backpack they want, any color they want and when they open it up, they see that it’s full of the basic necessities — and what we’re telling these kids and their families and our school teachers and administrators is that these kids matter and we know that they can’t reach their full potential if they can’t enter the classroom ready to learn.”
On Wednesday, Sept. 4, P.S. 171 was prepped with smiling volunteers and 200 backpacks filled with supplies. As children entered the school library, they were given 25 New York Cares dollars to purchase their backpack, which one volunteer said gave the kids more agency to retrieve the items.
Some parents were torn over the event. While one admitted to not even looking over the back-to-school list and expressed appreciation for the free supplies, others wished the event happened sooner.
“We already bought what was on the list,” said Nelson Tolentino who was at P.S. 171 with his eight-year-old stepson, Marco Cabrera Ramirez, whom will be starting the third grade on Sept. 5. “If they had done this earlier, maybe it would have helped us better.”
Tolentino added that school supplies are getting more expensive and demanding. The supply list for a third grader at P.S. 171 includes cleaning spray, disinfectant spray and wipes, a box of tissues and hand sanitizer – all per student.
“I feel like there’s a lot of cleaning supplies that add up, more than the notebooks and pens,” said Jaqueline Queiroz, who has two children attending P.S. 171.
And staff at the school empathize.
“Since I was going to school versus being a parent now, we didn’t have all these extra costs that we incurred, especially given the pandemic,” said Vanessa Spears, parent coordinator at P.S. 171 as well as a former alumna of the school. “Which is why it’s really important for us to help alleviate that cost for parents.”
In addition to the giveaway, there were also several activity stations where kids could make bookmarks, take photos or add to the vision board that allowed to write what they want they want to be when they grow up. Other students were happy to see Halli Moskowitz aka “Ms. Books” who will be starting her 28th year at the school. Any backpacks left over will be distributed amongst students who express the need for them.
In the end, the children were excited to get their new items and were looking forward to what the new school year had to offer.
“I’d like to see a trip to the zoo,” said little Ramirez.
