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.
