FAIRFIELD, NJ (Sept. 8, 2025)—To address the needs of underprivileged students in anticipation of the start of a new school year, Embrace Relief and its network of local partners across the country successfully distributed 4,290 brand-new backpacks throughout the month of August.
The distribution events, part of Embrace Relief’s Embrace USA initiative providing critical services and support for communities in the U.S., were held across a period of four weeks, and activities involved 10 states: New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Georgia.
Each event provided school-aged children — ranging from kindergarten to high school — with a brand-new, high-quality backpack containing supplies such as notebooks, pens and pencils, helping to ensure that thousands of children from lower-income families could enter the new school year prepared.
A United Way study notes that nearly one in four U.S. students — more than 16 million children — come from families who struggle to afford basic classroom essentials like backpacks. When students lack the resources of their peers, they are at risk for falling behind academically, and also face significant challenges to their self-confidence.
Embrace Relief’s annual Backpack Drive seeks to address these needs by working with a nationwide network of school districts, municipal governments and education departments, religious organizations, and trusted community groups. Through these strong partnerships, Embrace Relief is able to ensure that each backpack finds a home with a child who needs it most, helping them begin the new year on equal footing with their peers—empowered, motivated, and ready to succeed.
“Our Backpack Drive is one of our most important events,” said Celil Yaka, Embrace Relief CEO. “Every child deserves the opportunity to achieve and learn in school, no matter their ability to afford the basic school supplies they need. The Backpack Drive is a powerful way to help students succeed and ease the burden on families in our communities.”
Embrace Relief wishes to thank all of its partners for helping to make Backpack Drive 2025 a success. To learn more about the Embrace USA initiative, or to support our efforts to provide critical material support and services to our closest neighbors, please visit our Embrace USA page here.
