'It's A Beautiful Thing': Local Community Helps Students Start School With New Backpacks

EAST HILLS, NY — Members of the Sid Jacobson JCC in East Hills gathered recently for an annual event to usher in the new school year. The annual "Give Back with a Backpack" drive brings plenty of smiles to the staffers and volunteers.

"We ended up assembling 650 backpacks," said Susan Berman, Associate Executive Director, Community Engagement. "We did all of that within a two-hour span of time."

More than four dozen volunteers, many of them children themselves, participated in the event.

"[They] took the right amount of supplies of what was needed for each individual grade," said Lisa Lipstein, Sid Jacobson JCC Volunteer Services Supervisor. "Then we had quality control, looking into the backpacks after the children packed them."

Each backpack was loaded with supplies geared to students from pre-K to 12th grade.

With as many as 10 different community partners, the backpacks will find their way to underserved students who need a boost to start the season.

"In addition, here at the Sid Jacobson JCC, we have the Nikki Schwartz Memorial Community Needs Bank and Food Pantry," Berman said. "Within that pantry, we have our own families, who will be receiving those school supplies as well."

Some volunteers sorted the fully loaded backpacks into categories for their eventual destination.

"I was an arduous project," Lipstein said. "The fun part is the beginning for the kids."

But when the event was held on Aug. 18 at the JCC, Lipstein said volunteers were primarily teens and adults.

"When I say adults, it could be someone who's 23. It could be someone who's 87," Lipstein said.

The yearly tradition brings out the community to volunteer as a way to "give back positively in the world," Berman said. "So, we're really teaching the kids good human values."

Plus, as the children get to help fill backpacks for other youngsters, "they feel empowered," Berman added. "Which is really lovely."

Lipstein said: "You hope they're coming into it educated a little by their parents. It's a beautiful thing to be able to watch these kids do it."