Despite government budget cuts, VOA-GNY met last year’s record, providing backpacks and school supplies to tens of thousands of children living in NYC shelters.
At a time of record family homelessness and challenging government budget cuts, Volunteers of America-Greater New York (VOA-GNY) distributed 19,000 backpacks to school-aged children living in New York City homeless and domestic violence shelters this summer through its 22nd annual Operation Backpack® campaign.
Operation Backpack® is a community-wide effort that aims to ensure as many children as possible have the school supplies they need to succeed in the classroom and beyond. These items are critical resources that play a measurable role in student success metrics including higher rates of homework completion, class participation and, ultimately, graduation.
VOA-GNY was entirely dependent on its supporters for Operation Backpack® this year, with a number of prominent companies sponsoring the campaign, including RXR, Loews Corporation, Westfield, CMT Group, HarperCollins Publishers, The Honickman Companies, Duane Reade/Walgreens, The Weeks Lerman Group and YP Foundation.
Walter Russell III, an accomplished Broadway actor, was featured in a new PSA filmed on the set of MJ the Musical. Russell became the youngest-ever male Grammy winner at age 14 for his role in the Metropolitan Opera’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones in 2023. He began supporting Operation Backpack® the same year, after being introduced to the campaign through Broadway Serves. Television actress and VOA-GNY board member, Paige Davis, was also featured in a PSA for the campaign.
In August, NYC Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner, Molly Wasow Park, and NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) Administrator, Joslyn Carter, helped distribute backpacks and school supplies to children living at one of VOA-GNY’s Brooklyn family shelters. Volunteers from The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel helped families celebrate the start of school with lunch and crafts.
VOA-GNY launched Operation Backpack® in 2003 as an effort to collect school supplies for the children living in its own shelters and has since grown to become the largest back-to-school drive in New York City.