‘Backpack Week’ to give away 500 free backpacks to Pottstown school kids

POTTSTOWN — The Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities has initiated Pottstown Backpack Week, providing 500 free backpacks and school supplies to students in preparation for the upcoming academic year.

The event is set to start the week of Aug. 5 with 500 backpacks filled with school supply essentials to be distributed to students at five different community locations around Pottstown.

“Families accessing our food and housing services, whether that be through our community food pantry, Community Meal program, or housing support services, come from a variety of crises, said Pottstown Cluster Executive Director Jacqui Good. “For almost everyone, purchasing school supplies every year is very challenging. The purpose of Pottstown Backpack Week is to unite the community to alleviate financial burdens for under-resourced families and collectively empower Pottstown area students to achieve academic success. We are thrilled to be able to collaborate with other nonprofits to serve more people in Pottstown and make these resources more accessible to our neighbors.”

Pottstown Backpack Week is being brought to the Pottstown community by the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities through a partnership with Cradles to Crayons.

The distribution dates and locations are Monday, Aug. 5, at Bethel Community Church of Pottstown, time TBA; Tuesday, Aug. 6,  at The Ricketts Center, Time TBA; Wednesday, Aug. 7, at the Pottstown Cluster at 6 p.m.; Thursday, Aug. 8, at the YMCA complex at 724 N. Adams, Time TBA; and Friday, Aug. 9, at Community Health and Dental in the Coventry Mall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The current schedule can be found at Pottstowncluster.org/Pottstownbackpackweek and facebook.com/pcrcoutreach.