3rd Annual Backpack Drive

IFFER’s 3rd Annual Backpack Drive helped children from low-income families with backpacks and school supplies to begin the new school year. Our heartfelt thank you to the following individuals and their families for their generous donations towards the backpack drive.

Alisha Nand, Alvita Singh Debone, Anil Charan, Avinta Madhukansh Singh, Cami, Tanav, Landon, and Ariana, Chetan Singh Heyer, Daven Kumar, Fameeza Ali, Kanwal Sippy, Raj Naicker, Ravi Bhatnagar, Sarah M, Shalini Kumari, Sheila Singh, Shiu Mati Pillay, Shyama Madhukansh and Steve Balram Singh.

A very special recognition and thank you to our remarkable volunteers, Aishwarya Singh and Yuvraj Singh! They volunteered their time on a Saturday morning to help IFFER members assemble the backpacks and fill them with the school supplies. Thank you so much for your volunteer work, Ashi and Yuvi. We are very grateful for the time you have given us. You have made an unforgettable difference!

If you would like to support IFFER’s annual backpack drive or any of our community assistance efforts, please reach out to us at info@iffer.org.                         

Donation of $3000.00 to Supply Bank’s school supply drive for Bay area kids and families. Supply Bank.org distributes grade-appropriate school supplies to 300,000 high needs students across California through partnerships with more than 450 county offices of education, school districts, First 5 Agencies, and domestic violence shelters. The non-profit organization is the largest charitable program of its kind in California, distributing vital essential goods to under-resourced families throughout the state in partnership with a network of more than 500 organizations.

IFFER team members Ravi Bhatnagar, Ree Chawla and Steve Balram Singh dropped off sleeping bags at Resonate Church in Fremont, CA. The sleeping bags were distributed to the homeless living on the streets in the Tri-City area. For most of us, cold and rainy days remind us of how blessed we are to have a roof over our heads and a warm bed to sleep in. Unfortunately, for the thousands sleeping rough on the streets, it’s a case of survival for their lives. We hope that the sleeping bags will provide some relief to the homeless.

Some of the most needed items for the homeless are sleeping bags, bottled water, socks, toiletries, reusable masks, hand sanitizer, and wipes. We all have a moral obligation to help those less fortunate than ourselves. We ask that the next time you see a homeless, please help if you can. You might be saving the life of a vulnerable person who has fallen on hard times.

We wish to express our sincere gratitude to members of the community for their generosity in supporting IFFER’s annual backpack drive. Because of their support, we were able to provide backpacks and school supplies to children from low-income families in the Bay Area as they begin the new school year. Their generous donations really lifted a financial burden that many cannot afford. Thank you to the following individuals and their families for helping us bring joy and learning to those in need:

Anil Gogate, Arunesh Rick Singh, Fameeza Ali of Meeza Travel Inc., Raj Naicker, Belqueesa Ahmadzai, Shalini Kumari, Frieda Vera, Arvindra Reddy, Radhna Reddy, Anil & Sushila Charan, Alvita Debone.

IFFER is very proud to partner with Family Giving Tree, a charitable organization serving children and individuals most in need throughout the Bay Area. FGT’s 2021 Back-to-School Drive seeks to provide tens of thousands of backpacks filled with essential school supplies that aid in STEAM learning to this particular sub-set of students whose families struggle to afford these items. These are children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals through the National Free or Reduced-Price Meal Program and are also eligible to receive a backpack and supplies, equating to over 330,000 Bay Area children. Due to the pandemic, this number could now be much higher.

The backpacks included essential school supplies such as pencils, erasers, sharpeners, rulers, glue sticks, markers, colored pencils, notebooks, headphones, folders, dry erase boards, multiplication, and division flash cards. Included as well were toothbrushes for each child. We hope that these backpacks and school supplies will help alleviate a lot of the cost burden that low-income families face.

If you would like to support IFFER’s annual backpack drive or any of our community assistance efforts, please reach out to us at info@iffer.org.

IFFER team members Steve Balram Singh and Kumar Joshi together with the chair of Project Sleeping Bags for the Homeless, Chetan Singh distributed sleeping bags and dental supplies to the homeless in Contra Costa County. The Bay Area has one of the largest and least sheltered homeless population in the country. More than 35,000 individuals are living in the region’s streets, according to a 2019 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report, and that number may have gone up since the pandemic started.

For those less fortunate, our country’s unhoused population, one of the most needed items are sleeping bags. Every year people living on the streets die from the cold and sleeping bags can be a lifesaving option for them. Although it does not solve all the problems that arise from living on the streets, we hope that they provide a warmer place to lay down and offers some protection from a cold, hard surface.