Arizona Helping Hands hosting backpack drive for school year

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Arizona Helping Hands is hosting a backpack drive for kids in foster care who need some extra TLC just before the start of this upcoming school year.

In all, the group is giving away 2,000 backpacks and each one is full of all kinds of different supplies children need to have a successful school year. It’s the 10th year in a row the group has held this event.

“There are over 14,000 children in Arizona’s foster care system,” the head of the board of directors of Helping Hands Jay Spector said. “Today, we are providing backpacks for our back to school drive for over 1,000 children this week and over 2,000 by the time school starts next week.”

Spector said that the drive is supported by community members, the Russ Lyon Foundation, corporate sponsors, and individual supporters all across the U.S. One foster mother who attended the event said that the organization helped outfit her with the items she needed to host foster children. “You have to make sure your house is child-proofed... they give you all of the things you need to pass the inspection for the guidelines,” she said. “I can’t even tell you how grateful I am for Arizona’s Helping Hands.”

To learn more about Arizona’s Helping Hands or to donate to the group, click here!

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