Project Backpack Now Taking Donations

About 70 students in St. Ignace Area Schools and Gros Cap School are on a list to receive school supply donations from Project Backpack, which is currently matching sponsors and families, said Ronda Engle, community outreach worker with the Department of Human Services in Mackinac County.

The program is seeking donors who wish to sponsor a child's back-to-school needs or who would like to make contributions of money or school supplies. Project Backpack is coordinated by the Child Protection Roundtable, which hosts child abuse and neglect prevention awareness programs in Mackinac County.

Backpacks and school supplies will be collected Friday, August 18, for distribution to families. To learn more about donating school supplies or sponsoring a child, call Ms. Engle at 643-6115 or Sheri Damron at 643-6122.

Early response to the appeal has been positive, Ms. Engle said Wednesday, August 2. Letters have been sent to businesses and churches about the program, which will serve any family in need in the county, and donations are being collected now. Other school districts are welcome to submit the names of children in need, she said, and several districts are collecting school supplies through their own internal programs.