RAND Gives Back(Packs): Back to School Edition

As August draws to an end, children and their parents around the city are busy prepping for the new school year. Something that most of us take for granted is that every school child should have access to basic school supplies, which is sadly not always the case. New Alternatives for Children (NAC), a non-profit organization dedicated to helping New York City’s most vulnerable youth — those with severe disabilities or chronic illnesses, who live below the poverty line, and who have experienced abuse and/or neglect — has found that many of the children they work with start their first day of school without the most basic supplies such as backpacks, notebooks, or even pencils.

This year, NAC, who RAND has worked closely with over the years, is hoping to collect over 800 backpacks full of school supplies as part of their Backpack and School Supply Drive. As part of our RAND Gives Back initiative of charitable giving, RAND committed to donating 100 bags of school supplies. This past Tuesday, RAND Gives Back volunteers spent their lunchtime stuffing brand-new backpacks full of much needed items, including notebooks, binders, pens and pencils, markers, calculators, rulers, folders, children’s scissors, and glue. Led by RAND's Human Resources Coordinator, Isabelle Walsh, our volunteers created a well-organized assembly line and had the bags packed and ready to go within an hour!

The bags will be distributed at NAC's annual "Back-to-School" event where over 900 children will be choosing backpacks for their upcoming school year. To help NAC meet their goal for this year, please consider organizing a Back-to-School Supply Drive or purchasing an item, or items, from NAC's Amazon Wish List. For more information, visit NAC's website for a list of ways to volunteer or help out. The first day of the 2018-2019 school year is just around the corner, and it's not too late to help make sure our city's children in need start the year off right.