The 2022 Back to School Drive met its goal of providing 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies for middle and elementary school students in need.
Employees, including craft workers and contractors, donated new backpacks at drop-off locations around the Laboratory, and pledged a total of $24,600 online. The monetary donations were used to purchase the supplies and some of the backpacks.
"Having access to the necessary materials needed to start school is critical for students," said Maria Carmona, a sixth-grade math teacher with the Pojoaque Valley Sixth Grade Academy.
Volunteers pack and sort the donated backpacks.
Packing and delivering
Thirty volunteers assembled to pack and sort the backpacks, while 12 others undertook to deliver the backpacks across the region.
School nurses, teachers and counselors will identify which students will receive the backpacks, based on the students' individual needs and circumstances.
These schools and school districts received backpacks in time for the start of the school year: Carlos Vigil Middle School, Chama Valley Schools, Cuba Independent School District, Española Elementary Public Schools, Jemez Mountain Schools, McCurdy Charter School, Mesa Vista Schools, Ohkay Owingeh Community Schools, Peñasco Independent School District, Pojoaque Valley Schools, San Ildefonso Day School, Taos Day School – Bureau of Indian Education, Taos Municipal Schools, Pecos Independent School District, Mora Independent Schools and Los Alamos Public Schools.