Thousands of disadvantaged Katy ISD students will start school Aug. 25 with backpacks fully stocked with school supplies thanks to the Greater Houston YMCA's Operation Backpack.
The Katy Family YMCA and local businesses worked together to collect more than 2,000 backpacks with supplies to date for children whose families cannot afford them. Before school starts, the YMCA aims to collect 2,500 backpacks full of school supplies for students in all grade levels at 25 of the district's 58 schools.
Connie Stirgus, outreach coordinator for the Katy Family YMCA, said this is the 10th year the YMCA has done Operation Backpack. Donors were asked to buy a backpack, fill it with school supplies, write a note of encouragement and donate the filled backpack to their local YMCA, which would then distribute the backpacks to students with an identified need.
"It is to make sure that every child in the Greater Houston area starts school with supplies," Stirgus said. "So we try to make sure that the playing field is level for every child attending school."
