Talk about an assembly line DREAM TEAM. The A Gift for Teaching ‘Great Big Backpack Build’ was a huge success!

Over 400 volunteers came together to stuffed a whopping 21,000 backpacks for students starting a brand new year. This incredible display of community spirit will ensure countless students are well-equipped for the upcoming school year. High fives all around!

Jane Thompson, President of A Gift for Teaching

“This is our Great Big Backpack Build. There are so many excited people, 450 to be exact, in that room helping us build 21,000 backpacks this morning. I like to think about the image in my head of 21,000 kids on the first day of school, maybe not realizing they were going to have anything, then getting a backpack, and just knowing that somebody built this for them.”

Alecia Bryant, Teacher at Meadow Woods Middle School

“[A Gift for Teaching] gives to us, so why not volunteer my time to help the people who are trying to help me help the kids? Any partnership that wants to help kids, I’m all for it. It’s awesome that the community wants to give back to the students, to the families they are a part of as well. You are serving the community we all live in. It’s awesome to see them giving up their time just like we give them our time.”

Eliu Guzman, Teacher at Engelwood Elementary School

“My school is a Title 1 and in a very transient neighborhood. We have more children now that are coming with absolutely nothing. It’s a wonderful thing, when you see their eyes light up because it’s a brand new backpack and brand new things are in the backpack. That’s something they probably never seen before. When I see the companies here, it shows me that there’s people that want to help us and support us.”

Original video posted on social media on June 11, 2024 by Orange County Public Schools.