Back to School: Backpacks for Charity

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A couple weeks ago, I told you about a special campaign I was working on to help children in need start their school year off right. We had a great response, and we are excited to share with you the Backpacks that we bought, put together and will donate.

Girls Backpack Supplies:

  • $4.88 – Backpack
  • $8 – Hello Kitty T-shirt
  • $6.17 – Hanes Socks
  • $5.47 – Hanes Underwear
  • $.15 – Pocket Folders x 3
  • $.20 – Spiral Notebook x 2
  • $.40 – Crayola Crayons
  • $.97 – Crayola Markers
  • $.97 – Crayola Colored Pencils
  • $.97 – Dixon #2 Pencils
  • $.97 – Pencil Sharpener
  • $.74 – Scisscors
  • $.97 – Pencil Box
  • $.97 – Elmer’s Glue Sticks {Save more and print this coupon}
  • $1 – Calculator

Total Spent $34.03

Boys Backpack Supplies:

  • $4.88 – Backpack
  • $3.88 – T-shirt
  • $6.17 – Hanes Socks
  • $5.47 – Hanes Underwear
  • $ 8.81 – Supplies {same as above}

Total Spent $29.21

Another thing I did, was to ask for a gift receipt. I pinned them to the clothing with a safety pin, just in case the child receiving the backpack needs a different size.

I put together this little video to show you our adventure…

There are lots of options for places to make donations. Our local Jaycees organization and Bethany Lutheran Church is hosting a School Supplies Drive. Many local television stations often host drives, WNDU in South Bend, Indiana has one. And of course, the Salvation Army is always a great place too.

Colorado Bag n’ Baggage has graciously agreed to give 3 lucky readers a gift certificate for a backpack. Stop back on August 12th. to enter! And let me tell you…these backpacks ROCK! Nick had one last school year and it was great!

If you are a Blogger, be sure to stop back on Friday, August 12th and link up your post showing us the backpack you donated. And also, be sure to share  a picture of your donation on Facebook!

Disclosure: This post is part of a campaign I am participating in with the Walmart Moms. Walmart has provided me with compensation  for this post. My participation is voluntary and opinions, as always are my own.

I’m linking to…Hodge Podge Friday

13 Comments

  1. This is amazing what your doing. Growing up my family was low income and back to school was a very hard time for us, we went through cheritys like this and it helped my family out so much. Christmas is also another tough one for low income families so any chance your given to donate around then helps out alot as well. Now that i am grown and hope to be starting a family of my own soon i donate to things like this whenever i can mainly because i have used it and know the benefits of it.

  2. I think this is an amazing thing that you’re doing and I hope that more people catch on to help out. I just had a quick question…is there a reason why you bought all name brand items? I bought my child almost all non name ones at Walmart and got more items at about half of the cost. I’m just thinking you’d definitely be able to fit so much more in that backpack for your $40 worth.

  3. congratulations for all the giving people who think of the kids who are needy. Our family went through some rough times and I know that school supplies were bought first, clothing and shoes last. It was always a huge expense to us at the time.

  4. Thanks again for putting this challenge and linky party out for your readers. I had a lot of fun. Those were some really cute backpacks you found for under $5!

  5. Jackie Dryden says:

    http://consumerist.com/2011/05/walmart-caught-shortchanging-customers-with-gift-receipts.html

    Check this story out. There are other stories too, and that’s why I made the post I did. I’m not disclaiming that Walmart might look into it, but I have had this happen to me in the past as well, for a gift I bought for a neice. If I hadn’t actually kept the receipt, she would have only got 1/2 the money that her gift actually cost me. From there on out, any purchase as a gift, I do a seperate transaction and give them the original. I even do this when we buy gifts at Christmas for the angel tree the Salvation Army puts up.

  6. I’m in. I bought the backpack and a few supplies. I want to get a couple more things before I donate. Thanks for starting this.

  7. Jackie Dryden says:

    Did you know that even if the clothes or backpacks don’t work out, that even having a gift receipt doesn’t give the person the same amount to use on another item if the one you bought(with the gift receipt) has gone on sale or even clearance? So if that t-shirt for $3.88 gets clearanced out for $2. and they don’t have the size available-that kid only has $2 to put twords another one. Not the $3.88. It’s really back when you buy any of their seasonal items, and things like book bags are seasonal. Just saying-gift receipts don’t help, unless Walmart is willing to change.

    1. Hi Jackie,
      I wanted to let you know that I checked with the Walmart Corporate Office, and in fact Walmart DOES recognize a gift receipt for the value you originally paid. They told me if you would like to provide a store number to me, they can contact the store manager and make sure that the employees are accepting the returns with gift receipts correctly.
      I appreciate your feedback and am happy to help in anyway I can.
      ~Liz

  8. What a great message, Liz, and I loved your video! So proud of you and what you are sharing with this campaign!! xoxo

  9. I am saving up supplies for next year! I have been couponing to get freebies and cheap cheap prices on really nice items and then will check out the backpack clearance this winter.

    1. Heidi, That’s a great idea! I’m sure teachers would even appreciate supplies after the first of the year and toward the end of the year when their supply dwindles down.

  10. What a great cause! As a teacher I see kids who would really benefit from these backpacks. At my school we have extra supplies handy for those who need them. It really helps!

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