BUFFALO, N.Y. — Janice Ferguson is one of the volunteers at Ladies of Charity in Buffalo. For the past 20 years, she has spearheaded Catholic Charities backpack program out of the back of the thrift store on Broadway. Which involves a lot of packing.
"it's just so rewarding," she said, as she filled second grade backpacks with folders, glue sticks, and pencils. "You're helping people."
With rising inflation and the cost of going back to school higher this year, a lot more people need that help right now.
"I'm bracing for more requests to come in, I don't know for sure," Carolyn Stewart, Catholic Charities' supervisor of food pantries and thrift stores, said.
"In the past, prior to the pandemic, we saw 600 to 700 backpacks leave in a couple weeks. But now with inflation, I could see it being more," she said. "We just filled an order yesterday for 75 backpacks for one office. so if 75 is in one office, what's out there still?"
"They're available all year round too, so if someone has a problem mid-year, they can call Ladies of Charity and they can arrange to get a backpack," Ferguson said.
If you need a backpack, just go to any Catholic Charities location to start the screening process or call their downtown office at 716-856-4494.
From rolling programs like Catholic Charities, to one day pop-up events. At Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Athletic Sports Pavilion, they are getting ready for one of the largest one day backpack giveaways in the city.
"On Saturday we will have a backpack giveaway," Director Cedric Holloway said. "It will be our fourth annual. We will be giving away 2,000 backpacks."
The backpacks are fully stocked with school supplies, paid for by National Grid, Bank on Buffalo, Delta Sonic, Buffalo PAL, and packed by the Teacher's Desk.
"We have a lot going on here," Holloway said. "Same day, there's a Chiavetta's dinner going on at the corner, also at the same time we have the Kuleta Pamoja which is the farmer's market that goes on here every Saturday."
Holloway says the backpacks always go fast, and the event has become a back to school tradition for many in the neighborhood, which has been in the spotlight since the Tops shooting just blocks away.
"I know there's not a lot going on in this area, and unfortunately we're being put on front with regards to what happened down the street," he said. "But the need was existent prior, and it exists after. and that's what we're addressing."
Saturday's backpack giveaway starts at 10 a.m. and the event will operate on a first come, first served basis. More information is available here.