The Fill A Backpack program is more than a backpack. It’s more than a pencil. It’s more than a notebook. We’re able to give children in need a sense of normalcy. No child should have to go to class feeling embarrassed to ask their teacher to borrow a pencil or piece of paper.  

That is where our incredible team of Fill A Backpack supporters step in! Each year, we provide tens of thousands of Colorado kids with backpacks filled with grade-appropriate school supplies, giving them hope and excitement so they can start the school year feeling confident and prepared. 

65% of Colorado kids start their first day of school on the wrong foot by showing up unprepared. Due to inflation, it is no surprise that many struggling families cannot afford the growing annual expense of school supplies for their children. 

Our community comes together to collect school supplies 

We collect new backpacks, school supplies and monetary donations through drives hosted by individuals, organizations and businesses as well as through the Fill A Backpack Corporate and Community Challenges. 

Volunteers fill backpacks with grade-appropriate school supplies 

We get the backpacks into the hands of children in need 

We ensure children get the grade-appropriate supplies they need, either at our Resource Center or through one of our Agency Partners. The Fill A Backpack program ensures underprivileged children get to start the first day of school feeling confident and prepared to succeed academically. 

In 2016, we began inviting corporations, chambers and local community groups to meet the challenge of filling the backpacks of Colorado kids.  Each year since, this challenge has rallied the community around the common goal of ensuring the underserved children and youths in our community begin each school year with the tools they need to excel academically.

In 2022, the Fill A Backpack program provided over 21,000 children with new backpacks filled with school supplies.

This year, we would love your support and your help in order to get every one of the kids in our community the school supplies they need to start out the school year feeling confident and prepared!

The Fill A Backpack Drive Dates for 2023 are from June 26th – August 4th.

Corporate Challenge Winner: GHX
Community Challenge Winner: Trinity United Methodist Church