Spreading the Excitement of Back to School for Children in Need of School Supplies

Online, July 26, 2013 (Newswire.com) - In the coming months, office supply stores will be gearing up for the back to school specials that have families flocking to the aisles for school supplies. However, many children attending schools in the Peninsula Bay Area will be unable to prepare for classes due to financial instability, and therefore, they rely on support from the community for their school supplies.

The InnVision Shelter Network has developed a program not only to help homeless families find proper housing, but they bring attention to homeless children who attend school without the necessary school supply items to fit-in with their classmates. With this in mind, InnVision Shelter Network has partnered up with Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church and is asking the local community to donate small but significant items to fill backpacks for all school children, with a special emphasis on older children, in particular the teenagers.

InnVision Shelter Network has been successful filling backpacks with donations for the younger age students who need crayons and markers and paper. However, children grades 9-12 are in need of some more mature items in their backpacks. Therefore, InnVision Shelter Network and St. Matthews Episcopal Church are making an assertive effort to collect donations for the backpacks that will be donated to children in need grades 9-12. Gifts such as a $5-$25 Starbucks gift card can go a long way in helping teenager homeless students feel integrated with their peers.

Popular items that will bring joy to these teenagers include gift cards for snacks with their friends, from Jamba Juice, Subway or even Starbucks. Once these gifts are placed in the donated backpacks, the school year will be much less stressful for homeless children who face the extra burden of financial hardship.

The community should consider the impact that a backpack full of helpful items can make on a teenager's life who can not afford to do their own back to school shopping. With your help and extra purchases while doing your own shopping, the pressure of living in transitional housing programs for homeless students can be less difficult in the schoolyard.

St. Matthew's Episcopal Church will accept donations of gift cards and school supplies until Sunday, September 8, 2013. The goal is to receive and fill 100 backpacks to give to the children from InnVision Shelter Network. After all donations are accepted, Reverend Eric Hinds will offer a blessing service on the charitable backpacks and gift donations during the 10:15 a.m. church service on September 8, 2013.

Who: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church and Day School partnered with InnVision Shelter Network
What: Blessing of the Backpacks
Where: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church
16 Baldwin Ave.,
San Mateo, CA 94401
When: Sunday, September 8, 2013 (last day of donations)
Contact: Betsy McCall; [email protected]