Photo courtesy YMCA of Greater HoustonVolunteers help students obtain necessary supplies for the school year.
YMCAs throughout Cy-Fair and the entire Houston area have begun fundraising efforts to provide school supplies for underprivileged children who will start school later this month. The program, Operation Backpack, hopes to provide necessary supplies for 45,000 young students in time for the fall. Donations of nearly 3,000 backpacks have been reported so far in the Houston area.
Operation Backpack provided about 42,000 Houston students with supplies last year, said Jamie Clark, a chaplain for the YMCA who founded the effort in 2004.
"The inspiration came from the amount of need [we] found when speaking with educators," Clark said. "You realize that nearly 80 percent of children are on a reduced lunch program and their parents are having to choose between adequate clothing, supplies or food for their children. One of the things that we wanted to do in building the strength of the community was reduce the burden on parents."
