Kids to Love kicks off annual 'More Than a Backpack' program

by: Taylor Mitchell, Emily Moessner

Posted: Jun 5, 2023 / 05:19 PM CDT

Updated: Jun 5, 2023 / 09:09 PM CDT

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Kids to Love is accepting donations to help kids in foster care get ready for the first day of school, which will be here again before we know it.

While school is out for summer in many places, the Huntsville-based non-profit Kids to Love is starting its annual More Than a Backpack program so they can help these kids be prepared for the school year.

The organization says that oftentimes, kids enter the foster care system with very few personal items, sometimes just what can fit into a garbage bag maybe even less than that. Kids to Love says a backpack and school supplies can make a big difference.

The More Than a Backpack program works to make that difference by supplying new backpacks, packed with school supplies to children in foster care in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi.

Founder and CEO of the Kids to Love Foundation Lee Marshall told News 19 the program helps kids be on a level playing field for one of the most important things in their lives, their education.

"The number one reason kids come into foster care is poverty. The number one way we get them out is education… and it starts with a backpack," she said.

Marshall said that donations of not just backpacks but also supplies to fill them can help meet the needs of those kids.

"Whether it's a backpack, notebooks, pencils, colored pencils, protractors… If your child needs it for school, our kids need it for school as well," she said.

The organization offers several ways to help.

The Kids to Love Center is located at 140 Castle Drive in Madison, and they are open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. MIX 96.9 is headquartered at 8402 Memorial Parkway SW in Huntsville.

For more information on how to donate backpacks or school supplies, visit here.

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Kids to Love kicks off annual 'More Than a Backpack' program