Sacramento organizations host backpack challenge to help students in need

It’s back to school season and the Sacramento County Office of Education partnered with SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union to host a “Backpack Challenge” competition that will benefit Sacramento’s most vulnerable students.

The “backpack challenge” competition was a fun way to pack some of the 400 backpacks with school supplies and health items for homeless and foster students throughout the region.

The participants were employees from both organizations and they had five minutes to pack as many backpacks as they could.

According to the Sacramento County Office of Education, there are more than 15,000 students in the county that were experiencing homelessness in 2023-24, which is a 39% increase from 2020.

Julie DePrada-Schott, the school and community relations specialist for Northern California, said 150 of the 400 backpacks will go towards the unhoused students. 

“The students that might be couch surfing or going from place to place, we are giving 150 of those backpacks to them,” DePrada-Schott said. “On top of that, we have hygiene kits, and these are individual boxes that have everything from shampoos to deodorant to NutriGrain bars, things like that, so that they're getting a little bit more just to get them going through the school year.”

The backpacks are for students of all ages according to DePrada-Schott. She said the backpacks are important because not only does it help those in need, but the educators as well.

“Helping the students, helping the community, helps educators [and] helps makes everybody’s job a little easier,” she said. “That’s what we’re here to do — make their lives just a little bit easier.”

Jacque Serrano, the Student Programs Specialist of SCOE, said the day is significant because their organization tries to figure out how to provide resources for their students.

She said one of the biggest things for their foster and homeless families is transportation.

“We are trying to accommodate our families by removing that barrier of transportation and getting them access to resources that are within their geographic location, so it's more accessible for them,” Serrano said. “A lot of our students are traveling and living out of their backpack that we're giving them today.”

SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union members celebrate winning the backpack challenge on Wednesday at the Sacramento County Office of Education.Keyshawn Davis/CapRadio

Some of the school supply items include pens, notebooks, folders and health care items that include toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant and more. 

Serrano said there is a great need for students and for specific items to go to the homeless populations.

“If you're open to donating and willing to donate to our program, you can go to SCOE.net/giving,  and you go down about five cubes, my cubes yellow, and it says foster youth and homeless services and has my contact information.”

In the end, SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union ended up winning the BackPack Challenge by two backpacks.