Backpack Program

Each summer, LIFE*SPIN collects school supplies and learning tools to ensure children living in low-income families start the school year off right.

This program equips students with the tools they need and helps prepare them for a successful school year and beyond. Families actively participating in our Pocket-Sized Farms summer program and the summer program satellite site pick up their backpacks at their year-end outing, before the end of summer. Families are also invited to the Free Store for back-to-school shopping.

Access to school supplies is a luxury that many children in low-income families could not otherwise enjoy. With the amazing support of volunteers and donors, we provided backpacks to 200 children in 2024. We are anticipating that we will need supplies for 300 children this summer, as we are adding the families from our first summer satellite location.

    • Backpacks for children (ages 13-18 are our current greatest need)

    • Scientific calculators

    • Children’s scissors

    • Wax Crayons / Pencil Crayons

    • Pencil Cases

    • Reusable Lunch Containers

    • Flash Drives

    • Pens / Pencils

    • Highlighters

    • Erasers

    • 2-inch binders

    • Glue Sticks

    • Rulers

    • Ringed Notebooks

    • Pencil Sharpeners

If your child needs a backpack and is not in our Pocket-Sized Farms program

Schools provide free backpacks for students who need them most through the Thames Valley Education Foundation’s Best First Day school supply drive. Call your child’s school principal and leave a message, letting them know the grades the children are going into this fall. Remember to leave a phone number where they can reach you to let you know when you can pick them up. It is usually the last week in August.

Registration for 2025 is Full!

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Donate Today

We trade each backpack for a child’s drawing, poem, or story about poverty or racism in London, and what we should be doing to address it.

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