Cornell University The Elves Program

Here we will post examples of Elf related events and activities

There are hundreds of Elves involved in our Winter Holiday Program and our Summer Backpack program and they come up with some wonderful ways to make good things happen - activities, fundraisers, and events. If your family, office group, community organization or other group of Elves has an event or activity to share, please send a blurb to Bill Alberta, wna1@cornell.edu. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy these posts!

To see older posts visit our Happenings archive page.

New Leader for Summer Backpack Program
Maureen Brull is stepping down from this role but staying very active in The Elves leadership team. After founding the program in 2007, she expanded it over the years to where it serves 32 Ithaca area schools. As of 2023, more than 12,000 new backpacks with school supplies have been provided to children in need for a total value of nearly $300,000. Her leadership, dedication and hard work have inspired many and have ensured the program's continuance.
Cindy Greco, our long-time and very successful leader for Elmira Heights, is taking over. The important program will continue without missing a beat.

A Third Generation Elf
Ben Alberta Riehlmann, age six, has been helping with the program for three years. In the picture below he is about to go with his grandparents to the Learning Web Youth Outreach Program to deliver bags of gifts. Quote from Ben - "It's fun and it makes you feel good!"

Great Elf Work
Bethany Silfer, Elf Leader for Cortland schools, is shown below with some of the bags of gifts that were delivered to the schools recently. Her group of over 150 Elves provided 1,574 gifts to 150 children from 53 families in 3 schools. All of the new families (62 children) also received a new fleece blanket.

2023 Elves KozyKids Blanket Project
Again this year we'll be providing cuddly fleece blankets to needy kids. Joanna has purchased 300 of these warm and fuzzy beauties, and Dave will be delivering them to Elf Leaders at nearly 20 elementary schools across the area. This marks KozyKids' 8th year, now totaling 2976 blankets distributed. The blankets cost about $25 each, and you're invited to make a contribution to the project. More info at https://www.facebook.com/KozyKidsBlanketProject.

Elves in the School of Applied Engineering & Physics have a fun event lined up, proceeds to benefit The Elves. Please see poster below.

Building Care Elves Basket Raffle
The Building Care Elves Basket Raffle was bigger than ever this year. Brian Goodell, Manager Facilities Building Care, and Molly Swertfager along with their fellow Elves have done an amazing job. Last year there were ten baskets of goodies to be raffled. This year the number rose to 26! Their bottle and can drive was also very successful. Part of the fun was a competition among the different units to see which one could put together a basket that would sell the most tickets. The winning group had breakfast prepared for them.

To see images of the wonderful baskets that were available this year view this PDF file.

2023 Backpack program impact
The Elves Backpack Program for 2023 was another success! This year we provided 811 new, filled backpacks to children in 32 area schools.
The program celebrated its 17th year. Since its inception it has provided a total of 12,108 backpacks to children in areas schools who need them the most. The total dollar value is $294,925! It is only through the generosity of people who donate these backpacks or funds to shop that allows the program to continue.
The leader of each of our schools works very hard to secure the number of backpacks that the school's social worker states will be needed for their students and to find "Elves" to buy them. We also have campus departments, local businesses and area groups who work to provide backpacks in bulk. Listed below, hopefully not leaving anyone out, are those who provided backpacks in quantities of ten or more.
CFCU
CU Press
Libraries
Phi Sigma Sigma
Danby Fire Department
Athletic Training
Center for Technology Licensing
School of Continuing Education
Lab of Ornithology
Ithaca High Girls Lacrosse Team
Building Care
Tetra Tech
Facilities Management
Roper Center
Remember we also have a holiday program that provides clothing and a toy to an area needy child. This website provides a listing of all of the schools that participate in the program and the contact person for that school if you wish to get involved.

2022 Elves Impact Statistics Coming In
Our Winter Holiday Program leaders are finishing the work for their schools and counting the number of children sponsored. Below is a report from Bethany Silfer, Elf Leader for Cortland schools." Congrats to her team of Elves for a wonderful job!
Our 2022 season has come to an end. Thanks to your generosity, 88 children each received a bag filled with toys, clothing, books, and more.
88 Children
30 Families
900+ gifts
5 vehicle loads
Over 100 elves
Some of the extra things some of the children received from our group based on expressed need were:
winter coats
boots
snowpants
blankets
sheets
lamps
Special thanks to elf assistants: Rie Silfer (Expert Shopper), Shari Fallon (deliveries), and Carol Kuck (gift storage)-Thank you!

Elves program donations 2022

Even more gifts

Boxes of blankets

Van load of gifts ready for delivery to Learning Web Youth Outreach Program

Cornell Facilities and Building Care Make Strong Elves Effort
Brian Goodell, Manager Facilities Building Care - Physical Sciences Building led his team of Elves to great success again this year. Through their raffle ticket sales at the Cornell Employee Celebration and their bottle and can drive, they raised nearly $2,000! They are sponsoring 15 children as a result, several more than last year. What a wonderful team effort.

Raffle ticket sales set up at Cornell Employee Celebration

Elf Brian and Elf Mollly Swertfager, Facilities and Campus Service Employees, pose with the Cornell bear

More 2022 backpack deliveries

A note of thanks sent from Horseheads Schools after they received their delivery from the 2022 backpack program

Cornell University Police provide their assistance to the 2022 backpack program

2022 backpack packing has started
Our first photos from the backpack season:

Feedback from the 2021 season:
First social worker: "This is amazing! What a wonderful group of people you work with. Thank you so much for all the effort you put into this every year. This is truly one of the best things I get to experience every year. I was not able to be there to hand gifts out to families this year, but I was told we had many families who cried tears of joy. You all are such a blessing. Thanks again for all you and your elves do!"
Second social worker: "Thank you Bethany and the folks at Cornell who helped brighten the holiday season for several of our families! This has been a tough year for so many, and your kindness and generosity has brought so much relief to our families. You are very much appreciated. Happy Holidays to you all, and many blessing in the year to come!"

234 Warm Blankets!
Joanna and Dave Bock, two very generous Elves, bought 234 warm, fleecy blankets and delivered them to our schools where need was greatest. What an accomplishment. It is pleasant to think of kids who may have been cold in bed being warm instead.

Building Care Elves Challenge
Here is a nice example of a group of Elves raising money to sponsor children and having fun in the process. The Building Care Physical Sciences Clock in conjunction with the Stimson Clock sponsored 13 children in need. The Building Care Baily Clock sponsored 4 children for a total of 17! Great work folks!

2021 Bags of gifts on their way
Presents are in the process of being delivered to our 40 schools and programs. Here's a fun photo of a social worker's office after she received the bags of gifts.

2021 Backpack program thanks
A message from Groton Elementary School:
"We just wanted to extend our thanks again for the Elves Program. The students are loving their new backpacks as the Elves always make sure they are nice bags with character.
We also appreciate the supplies as Groton Elementary School supplies most of the supplies our students need, it helps our school community to have everything they need.
Please extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to all of the Elves."

Elf Program Backpacks Delivered
A huge number of backpacks and hundreds of individual school supplies have been delivered for the start of school. Thanks to all those who contributed. After a year where the Backpack Program had to be cancelled due to COVID, we returned with enthusiasm and lots of help from each of you. Whether you were a donor, a shopper, a leader of a school or helped with delivering backpacks, your participation helped us to provide 837 backpacks to 25 area schools!

Backpack delivery to Enfield with Mr. Harrington and Ms. Everhart.

2021 Winter Program Sponsors 1003 Children!
The combined efforts of those who purchased gifts for them, those who donated money, and a team of hard-working Elf Leaders, we had a very successful winter program. This was done despite the challenges and limitations imposed by the covid virus. Adding this year's 1003 to the number of children sponsored since the program's inception in 1989 brings us to 16,280 total. At least $125 of new clothing and toys was purchased for each child over the years. Multiplying the total number of children sponsored to date times $125 each gives an impressive total of $2,035,000 spent to help the kids in greatest need in our area schools; all without any overhead costs. Thanks to all Elves!

If We Can Do It, So Can Your Group!
The PSB Building Care group was able to raise $300.00 by collecting bottles and cans, and the Bailey Building Care group was able to raise $600.00 by collecting bottles and cans, selling masks, holding raffles, and collecting donations.

2020 Season Off and Running
Latest deliveries.

Third Generation Elf
This small Elf has been happy to help this season. He understands, even at age three, that it's important to help others who are not as fortunate as himself. In the picture he is in downtown Ithaca carrying bags of gifts to one of the programs we serve. Many parents and grandparents involve their children. It's an enjoyable thing to see.

2020 Elf Action at Ithaca College
Kaitlyn Wahila, Head Field Hockey Coach at Ithaca College, has reached out to the women's and men's sport teams there. Eleven teams are now involved. Most are sponsoring children by shopping for them and buying the items on our checklist while others are fundraising. It's great to have IC Elves!

Eighth Grade Elves Go Shopping
We have many young Elves. The youngest typically go with their parents to shop for a child, often one of their own age/gender. Some younger Elves participate as part of a group such as Girl Scouts. We have Elves of college age also. Recently a parent arranged for her son and other boys who attend DeWitt Middle School to engage in community service activities over the past summer and into the fall. Some of the many things they have done so far include making landscape art, visiting with WW2 vets, writing letters to servicemen, and digging a ditch for Habitat for Humanity. Recently they shopped for a child through our program. Good Elves!

Beautiful, Warm Jackets
These jackets were made by Joanna Bock, our Blanket-Bee Queen, from material left over from last year's event. They're very soft and warm and will go to small children that we help through the Learning Web Youth Outreach Program.

A Special Effort by The Elves
We recently received word from one of our elementary school contacts that a group of farm families were in dire need of blankets for their children. The person at the school asked if we were going to hold our annual Blanket-Bee. We had to tell her that, sadly, it had been cancelled due to COVID 19 complications. However, when Joanna Bock, our Blanket-Bee Queen, learned of the situation she used some of the money she had saved to buy material for the Blanket-Bee to purchase 40 warm, new blankets. They were delivered to the school in late October. Many thanks to Joanna!

Announcement Regarding the 2020 Backpack Program and COVID-19
Dear Fellow Elves,
After much thought, we have concluded that we cannot offer The Elves' Backpack Program this year. We see no way to run the program safely in light of COVID 19. Some of our schools may accept backpacks directly from individuals, we'll have to see about that.
When Maureen and her granddaughter started the program in 2007, 284 new backpacks with school supplies were distributed to 12 schools. The program has grown wonderfully - in the past year 1146 backpacks went to 36 schools!
We feel bad about having to skip a year but the Backpack Program will be back!
On a brighter note, I am pleased to report that this spring we were able to provide financial support to those of our schools that were struggling to provide meals to the children. The Elves contributed $7,021 to 14 elementary schools.
Best wishes to you all and thank you for being Good Elves!
Maureen Brull, Backpack Program Leader & Bill Alberta, CEO (Chief Elf Organizer)

Getting Food to Hungary Children
In late March, The Elves took on a special project to help some of our elementary schools to get food to the kids who would ordinarily receive free breakfasts and lunches at school but can't, due to the school closings. Thanks to contributions from generous Elves, we have thus far sent checks to fourteen schools, $7,021 in total!

Learning Web Outreach
Sixteen bags of gifts were delivered to the Learning Web Youth Outreach Program on 12/19. Appearing in the photo, left to right are Elf Leader Sherry Alberta & staff members Money Smiley, Rick Alvord, and Nekeea Castro.

Cornell students go shopping!
Elf Leader Jen Bokaer-Smith sends this picture of Elves Abby, Adri, and Eric. She notes: "they had a blast shopping and wrapping gifts for Noah, a second grader in need of gifts."

Physical Sciences Building Care Elfs Contribute
A big thank you to the Physical Sciences Building Care Time Clock for helping with the Elves Program this year! The PSB Building Care Time Clock collected donations from raffles and bottles for the program. They were able to raise over $500 to buy gifts for four children this year. Thanks to all the staff that contributed, and a special thanks to all that helped make this possible. Pictured below are the volunteers who did the shopping and will be wrapping all the gifts. From left to right: Gretchen Cooper, Pearl Bryan, Brian Goodell, Kelley Schmitt, Teresa Troy & Shawna Martin. Gift wrappers Molly Swertfager and Sharon Unser are not in the photo.

Blanket Delivery
Amber Alberta, social worker at Lansing Elementary School, with five boxes of blankets (25 total). The warm, PolarTech blankets were made at The Elves' Annual Blanket Bee in November and will be distributed to families on December 14th.

Spreading Holiday Cheer: Cornell MBAs Give Back
Jolly Shi again led a very successful fundraisIng effort for The Elves' Program among Cornell MBAs. Here is her report:
Our 2018 inaugural campaign resulted in sponsorship of 15 children. This year, we fundraised and collaborated through 18 major club sponsorships, tabling, individual donations, and throwing a festive celebration at a local bar. We sponsored 33 children, a 120% increase from 2018! It was so heartwarming to see that the community came together to support children in-need for the holiday.
It is important to the MBA class that we strengthen and maintain our relationship with the local community because giving back is such an important part of the culture of Johnson School.
I am so happy and grateful every day to be a part of this wonderful community of students. Thank you Cornell MBAs! You are the best.
P.S. We also broke the computer at Target because we spent over $4,000 and bought too many clothing and toy items! I have the longest Target receipt of my life. :-)

Jolly Shi and the Cornell MBA elves

Jolly picking out a unicorn for a child

2019 Blanket Bee Event
On Saturday, November 2, we held the 5th Annual Elves' KozyKids Blanket Bee, and it was a huge success! Thanks to over 80 volunteers, working from 8:30am until 5:00pm, we managed to make 370 full-size, plus baby and toddler polartech fleece blankets for a total of 396. That's a lot of warm children this winter!
This team effort was led by Joanna Bock, Blanket-Bee Coordinator with help from her chief assistant, Dave Bock. It saw young volunteers from Ithaca High School and the Youth Bureau's College Discovery Program join forces with adults from Ithaca and several surrounding towns. A good time was had by all, and many are already looking forward to Bee #6 next November. Here are some photos from the event:

Joanna Bock with rolls of fabric	Cutting the fabric
Sewing the blankets	The Elf Muscians, clockwise from lower left corner (guitar player): Jim Hull, Tod Sukontarak, Tom Ruscetti, Peter Fraissinet, Jeff Lang, Joe Hayward, and Deb Justice.

2019 Blanket Bee is right around the corner

The 2019 Backpack Program Results
Below you can see just a "few" of the many backpacks that elf volunteers sent off to local schools for Fall 2019.

Maureen Brull's family delivers backpacks to Dryden:

Sevaral members of the Cornell University Department of Information Science team are pictured below.

Cornell University Library contributes record sponsorhip
A note from Bethany Silfer, Elf Leader and Elf program coordinator for the library.
This year, the Cornell University Library and Friends Elves reached an all-time record with sponsorship of 61 children and counting with donations ranging from $10 to $400! Our numbers are higher this year as are the needs for additional items. Each child (age newborn to 18 each receives: A hat, gloves, pants, shirt, sweatshirt, pajamas, socks, underwear and four gifts off of their wish list. As many as we can provide also receive fleece blankets thanks to The Elves' Blanket-Bee. This year we also had wish lists with basic needs such as a request for pillows, snow pants, winter boots, extra socks, baseball cleats and baseball pants and in one case, a car seat so that a family will be able to bring their newborn home from the hospital in January.
The generosity of the elves in our group is just amazing. Things were looking bleak about a week ago when I estimated that I still needed another $1,300 in order to provide for all of the children. In less than 48hrs, I had all that we needed provided in gifts and monetary donations allowing us to purchase the remaining items for 14 children plus all of those extra items. As one elf said, "this program restores my faith in humanity"--I couldn't agree more! The Elves is a magical program that I have had the pleasure of watching grow over the years. It's sad to think that the need is so great in our surrounding communities, but heartwarming that there are so many people willing to provide for complete strangers out of the kindness of their hearts.
Wishing you all a happy holiday season!
Bethany and elf helper Rie Silfer with head elf Bill Alberta:

Great Work by Sage Hall Elves!
Jolly Shi, Office of Student Activities & Special Events at the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management, sponsored a child for The Elves Winter Holiday Program two years in a row. She believed she could do more this year and did she ever! Jolly had an idea to get her MBA students involved in the philanthropic cause and together, they fundraised enough money to fully sponsor 15 kids through putting on a large event, tabling for a week, & asking for club sponsorships! After that, Jolly spent 5 fun-filled hours shopping and another 2 hours organizing. Congrats to all the Sage Hall Elves and a special thanks to Jolly Shi.

2018 Blanket Bee
The Elves" Annual Blanket Bee was held with great success this past Saturday November 3. Joanna Bock, our "Queen Bee", reports the results as follows.
Here's to our most successful year yet! With the help of over 70 volunteers, we made 371 blankets and still finished before 4 o'clock! The fact that we had a record number of sewists involved really helped! I know a lot of children in the area will be very grateful for your efforts. Not only that, but I think everyone had fun working together and enjoying the wonderful entertainment.
Thank you to those of you who worked on Friday to move fleece and to those who are storing the blankets for the next few weeks. And thank you to any who brought food to share. Thank you so much to Jim Hull for serenading us with his velvety voice. And to Tom Ruscitti for organizing the delightfully talented string band. Thank you to each of you who gave up all or part of your Saturday to cut, sew, pack, and load blankets to make the 4th Annual Elves KozyKids Blanket Bee go so well. I look forward to working with many of you again next year. And thank you, Carleen Corey, for being the best custodian ever!
Finally, I want to extend a special thank you to Jump Around Inflatables, LLC for providing us with free storage for our rolls of fleece during the year. Without their generosity, this project would not be possible.
See you next year!

2018 Backpack Program Photographs
The 2018 backpack season saw the delivery of 1,224 backpacks to 27 different schools. Thank you to the elf leaders and other partners all over campus and in the area communities.

Reed Baker with 37 backpacks from Ithaca Girls Lacrosse.

Elf helper Brantley Brull delivering backpacks to Dryden schools.

Cindy Greco, Elf Leader for Cohen School - Elmira Heights, set a new record this year byproviding 150 filled backpacks. Andy Lutz, the school principal is far right, Cindy's mom next to him, then her daughter Chloe, then Cindy.
Backpack delivery for Candor schools with a elf helper.

Elf Leader Linda Corbin's granddaughter, Khyla. She helped Linda shop and fill new backpacks of school supplies. It gave her grandmother a chance to teach her a bit about helping others less fortunate than ourselves. Both had fun!

Bethany Silfer's photo of backpacks from the Cornell Library.

eCornell employees investing in our future leaders.

2017 bags of gifts ready for delivery to Cortland elementary schools

2017 Betty Blue Fundraiser
On Saturday, December 9 the Betty Blue held their Cornell Elves Fundraiser. Guest bartenders were teachers at Moravia Central School. Todd Mulvaney, Moravia Varsity Boys Coach participated in bartending and spending time with everyone in the community. 50/50 raffle tickets and a visit from Santa was extra special this year. We were able to raise $542 this year to support the children in Moravia. Thank you again to Joanne and Bill Badman for hosting this awesome event.

Joanne Badman & Todd Mulvaney

Valerie Kelly & Katie Palmer-Smith

Todd Mulvaney & Tamara Austin

2017 Kozy Kids Blanket Bee a Success!
A note from Joanna Bock, Project Coordinator: Thanks to 66 volunteers, including middle and high school students, Ithaca College and Cornell University students, members of the community, and even my 7-year-old grandson, we had our most successful Elves' KozyKids Blanket Bee to date! Cutters, sewists, folders, and packers worked from 8:30 until 5:00 to create a total of 336 full-sized and 12 polar fleece baby blankets for needy area children! And, everyone had a lot of fun doing it - especially knowing that so many kids will be snuggling under warm fleece this winter. Many thanks to everyone who helped. (And we are already looking forward to next year's Bee, the first Saturday in November. Come one, come all!)

Cutting fabric

Folding blankets

The sewing room

2017 Kozy Kids Blanket Bee

2017 Backpack Program Success
The Backpack Program had a successful eleventh year in that we delivered 1,110 new, filled backpacks to 31 area schools! What started out as a slow season quickly turned into two rooms at EHOB filled with backpacks and more backpacks collected on campus by each of the leaders! It became a steady flow of backpacks coming in and backpacks being picked up. The schools that received these backpacks were from Tompkins, Seneca, Tioga, Cortland, Cayuga and Schuyler Counties. Special thanks to:
. Walmart - each and every year they start us off with a generous donation from their Community Grant Program
. Our local UAW
. CFCU
. Cornell Libraries
. Law School
. Procurement
. Information Science
. Lab of Ornothology
. Law Offices of Miller Mayer

A Backpack Thank You

Some Fall 2017 backpack program helpers

Cornell Lab for Accelerator-based Sciences (CLASSE) helps the 2016 elf program
CLASSE Elves participate in the Cornell Elves program instead of buying gifts for each other and celebrate with lunch and wrapping party! Back Row - Lonie, Bill, Micci, Katerina, Todd; Front Row - Megan, Jamie, Monica, Beth, Samantha, and Connie. Not pictured - Katie, Kathy, Barb, Tim, Steve, and Rick. Photo Credit to Rick Ryan, CLASSE Communication Spec III.

Elf Event at Jump around Inflatables
Michelle Zirbel, Elf Leader for Southern Cayuga and Union Springs Elementary Schools, recently held a fundraiser to benefit The Elves at her place of business, Jump Around Inflatables in Lansing. Look who showed up!

New York State Agricultural Experiment Station continues to help.
Members of the Station community sponsored 23 children from 12 families in the Geneva City School District as part of the Cornell University Elves Program. This is the 5th year members of NYSAES have taken part in the program by providing local children with a new outfit of clothes, pajamas, a winter hat, gloves, and a toy. Approximately $125 is spent on each child. This year the community also purchased new boots and winter coats for almost all of the children, said Beth Demmings, a postdoctoral associate and VitisGen project manager. Beth is also the Elf Program Leader for Geneva. Read more about it here: NYSAES news post.

Cornell Counsel's Office Gifts for 2016:

Betty Blue Fundraiser Raises $1,022
The Betty Blue's fundraiser in Moravia was held on Saturday, December 3rd. Six guest bartenders who were teachers from Moravia Central school worked from 6PM until 9PM. The 50/50 raffle tickets and live band helped promote the event and raise funds. Special thanks to Joanne and Bill Badman, the Betty Blue Owners, for having this awesome fundraiser every year!

2016 Elves Blanket Bee

The Elves' Second Annual Blanket Bee was held on Saturday, November 5, 8:30 AM - 4 PM, at DeWitt Middle School. The hard work of three generations of Elves (well over 100 people) produced a blanket every 70 seconds. There will be 335 area children in need who will have a cuddly and warm winter this year. The blankets will be distributed in our 33 area schools as part of our Winter Holiday Program.
Many people deserve recognition for the success of this project, starting with Joanna Bock, project leader, and her family members which include her granddaughters! Also, Helen Perl and Melanie Murphy with the IHS Honor Society, the IHS Key Club, Ithaca College service club volunteers, and students from the Youth Bureau's College Discovery Program . Thanks also to the folks who lugged bolts of material, did the cutting and pinning, packaging and boxing. Special thanks to our room of people who brought their sewing machines to sew hems and complete the blankets. Also, custodian Carleen Corey was great. Jim Hull provided pleasant entertainmentwith his guitar and great singing voice which made a fun day even better. We plan to repeat the event next year, with a goal of 400 blankets! If you would like to participate, email Joanna Bock joanna@htva.net.

2016 Back Backpack Program Report from Maureen Brull, Program Leader

The Program far exceeded our expectations this year. Backpacks and donations came in at a steady flow and sometimes the three holding areas near my office were full, waiting for leaders on campus to pick up the backpacks for their schools. I want everyone to know that we have the most dedicated Backpack Elf Leaders that you can imagine. They hold fundraisers, raffles, silent auctions, etc. to bring in backpacks for their schools. If you visit our website www.elves.cornell.edu you will see some of the letters we received from very grateful school districts.
We had a fairly big challenge this year as we took on the needs of 31 schools. These schools were from Tompkins, Seneca, Tioga, Cortland, Cayuga and Schuyler Counties. Although we are not able to promise a school a certain amount of backpacks, we easily met the needs and provided 1210 new, filled backpacks to these 31 schools. Quite an accomplishment for the Backpack Elves and it well exceeded last year's donations of 954!
I would like to thank some specific groups who really helped us this year and hope that I don't leave out any in the process:
Walmart's Community Grant Program
The Cornell Law School
TreBella's Dance Studio in Dryden
Cornell Computing and Information Science
Cornell Commitment
UAW Local 2300
Cornell Federal Credit Union
Nielsen Company in Ithaca
Cornell Vet School
Miller Mayer Law Firm in Ithaca
Cornell Plant Science
Cornell Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
And last but not least, I want to thank each and every person who helped for making this year so special for so many needy kids. I cannot tell you how much fun it was to see all of the different backpacks come in and trying to choose which one was our favorite or meeting people who had never donated before, or seeing a child bring a backpack in who had shopped with their own money to buy the new backpack and supplies. You made that first day of school very special for so many kids.
Many, many thanks from all of the Backpack Elves.

2016 Backpack Program Thanks

2016 Backpack Program Feedback and a note from one of our helpers

2016 Backpack Program Pictures

To see older posts visit our Happenings archive page.