WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Children across Palm Beach County are preparing to go back to school and one organization is supplying their needs.
The Education Foundation of Palm Beach County held a backpack drive on Friday afternoon at Roosevelt Elementary.
Each child received a backpack filled with notebooks, folders, pencils, pens, glue sticks, markers, crayons, erasers, a pencil pouch, pencil box, and pencil sharpeners, along with two books of the student's choice.
Friday's drive is just one of several drives the organization will host as part of their Red Apple program, prior to the first day of school.
About 361 backpacks were distributed on Friday, but the organization plans to hand out a total of 16,000 bags across the county before the first day of school.
The foundation says the hope is to provide equal access to school supplies to create an equitable learning environment for students in school.
"We want to definitely form equality in the classroom. Imagine you're a student and you walk in, and all of your friends are using supplies and you don't have them," said Teresa Dabrowski, chief engagement officer at the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County. "So, we want to make sure that all of these students feel equal, and they feel like they can succeed on the first day and all the way through that entire school year."