Families from across Bayville, Locust Valley and beyond lined up at the Glen Cove Veterans of Foreign Wars Post on Aug. 13 to take part in the first-ever Backpack Day by NOSH Delivers, an event that supplied nearly 500 children with new school bags filled with supplies.
The nonprofit food pantry partnered with the Glen Head Country Club Charitable Foundation, which donated the backpacks, and Supplies for Success to make the day possible. Dozens of volunteers handed out backpacks organized by grade level, from early elementary through high school, along with pens, pencils, notebooks and other essentials.
Christine Rice, president of the board at NOSH, said the country club’s generosity provided the foundation for the program.
“The Glen Head Country Club really provided the underpinnings, if you will, of this backpack event,” Rice said. “It was an overwhelming success, and we gave out probably in the area, close to 500 backpacks.”
Families registered in advance to receive a backpack, but demand exceeded expectations. Rice added that the organization had families coming in as recently as the first day of the North Shore school year to grab a backpack.
Courtney Callahan, NOSH’s director of youth and community engagement and a co-founder of the pantry, organized the event after years of experience working with school supply drives
She described her inspiration coming from her time in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, where backpack giveaways were treated as community celebrations despite regional poverty.
“Families are really poor on the south side (of Chicago), and basically everyone needs help with backpacks and supplies,” Callahan said. “But it was done with such dignity and humanity…and I thought ‘Wow, this is exactly what it’s all about.’”
She said she wanted to bring that same sense of celebration and dignity to Glen Cove and surrounding areas.
“We respect and love and serve all the children of NOSH. They mean so much to us and we feed them right, supplementally, right, we feed them. But there’s so much more to our relationship with our NOSH families and the backpack seemed so obvious,” Callahan said.
Over 100 volunteers helped throughout the day with setup, distribution, and crafts tables. Children not only received backpacks but also participated in activities designed to give them a chance to give back. After collecting their supplies, many decorated KFIP Bags, paper bags filled with healthy snacks for other families named in honor of NOSH’s Kids Food Independence Program.
“They make them look beautiful and inviting and fun,” Rice said. “Even the parents were so happy that we gave their children an opportunity to do something like this, to kind of say as a thank you and what they could do for another child.”
Callahan said the day carried personal meaning for her as well. During setup, she took a moment to reflect on the scope of the effort.
“I walked and I just couldn’t believe it,” she said. “It was like incredibly significant, and it just dawned on me what a lot of people full of compassion and empathy can do.”
Families served by NOSH come from Glen Cove, Glen Head, Sea Cliff, Locust Valley and Bayville. Rice and Callahan shared the importance of helping families shoulder the cost of school supplies at a time when food, rent and other essentials are already difficult to afford due to inflation.
“I would say it was the ultimate gratitude,” Rice said. “There’s nothing more than see a big smile on your child’s face and kind of a relief for yourself that you don’t have to go to the store to try to find the funds in order to cover those things.”
“Backpack Day” is expected to become an annual tradition. Both Rice and Callahan emphasized that the program fits into NOSH’s larger mission of supporting families facing food insecurity while also finding new ways to ease the pressures they face.
“It’s an overwhelming success that we want to do it again just to continue to extend help to the community beyond food, but to really embrace them as important people in the community,” Rice said.
Callahan echoed the importance of building dignity into every aspect of NOSH’s work. She added that she and the other members of NOSH were “so blessed to be able to work with all these families, to have friendships with these families.”
“This is what love does for kids,” she said. “I just love being a part of this community, and I’m glad that NOSH can do our part for (these children’s) life and education.”
