Buffalo, NY-- In the summer, Patricia Kopper spends her half-day teaching kids with the Boys and Girls Club of Buffalo.
But when the school year officially begins, the 40-year-veteran teacher has a new crop of 3rd graders at Lovejoy Discovery School #43.
"They've been off long enough that they're getting excited about beginning the new year, seeing their friends, seeing their old teachers," said Kopper, who remembers how much she loved getting her own fresh set of pencils and crayons when she was in school.
But the need for fresh supplies grows each year, according to Kopper.
"For six hours a day, those kids are mine, and we work together, we're a family in the classroom, and we work together, and we share and we care about each other, but it just is so much easier when they have what they need," Kopper explained.
Kopper joins a number of other local teachers who recommend people donate to the annual 2 Pack a Backpack Drive, where 2 On Your Side welcomes everything from fully stuffed backpacks, down to boxes of crayons and erasers and even small cash donations.
Kopper said she's watched the immediate impact a donation can have on one of her students.
She's also watched students come through the door on their first day of school unprepared.
"They feel like they're steps behind the rest of the group," Kopper said. "The other kids are taking their things out, they're putting them in their desks, brand new desk, putting them inside their desk, and they don't have it. Then they get defensive, and many times it becomes a behavioral issue, and its very sad, and yes that does carry out farther into the year."
But the benefits don't just come in the form of confidence, or event he ability to keep up on their assignments.
Having supplies like crayons, glue sticks, and markers gives teachers like Kopper a chance to cultivate a unique kind of lesson with their students: a lesson in humanity.
One year, Kopper said, her classroom was touched by the story of a girl who'd been burnt by a horrific house fire.
"The kids made cards for her, and we wanted them to be as happy as we could possibly make them," Kopper said. "So we wanted to use the brightest colors we could possibly have, so having those supplies made that possible... That they could give from their heart, through a card, and send a message to that poor little child, and make her feel good... And they felt good giving as well."
If you'd like to participate in this year's 2 Pack A Backpack Drive, you can find more information here on how to get involved.