By Paul Gottbrath, Harvest in Northern Kentucky
A mother and her two children were already waiting, even though the sun had not yet appeared.
Northern Kentucky Harvest’s 2024 Backpacks Bonanza was being distributed on August 10th, and volunteers were arriving at St. Elizabeth Healthcare Covington’s parking lot to set up. The mother woke her children up before sunrise because she had heard in passing about the biggest and longest-running school supply giveaway this side of the Ohio River, but she was unsure if they needed to be registered in advance.
Her and her children’s faces lit up with smiles when they were informed that the backpacks would be distributed in a first-come, first-served manner. Excited, the children spent the next two hours assisting volunteers with tasks like unfolding chairs, taping up signs, putting ice and water in coolers, and removing packed backpacks from trash bags and placing them on tables.
Families from all around Northern Kentucky, some with a single child and others with five or six, arrived to pick up their free backpacks that day, and their excitement was evident in the atmosphere.
Children in preschool to the twelfth grade were among the recipients, and the list was varied:
pupils from 37 localities and 15 school districts.
Covington accounted for about 40% of the total, although other counties like Grant, Pendleton, and Gallatin also contributed.
Students from public schools predominate, but there are also some from Catholic schools and one homeschooler.
Additionally, a non-traditional student in desperate need of school supplies to finish his studies had just come from Africa.
About 300 backpacks were distributed over the course of the week before the distribution day by five partner organizations: Catholic Charities, Welcome House, the ION Center for Violence Protection (formerly the Women’s Crisis Center), the Esperanza Latino Center in Covington, and ReSet, which assists families of people recently released from prison.
Actually, there weren’t enough backpacks for the volunteers that day. Unfazed, they jotted down names and spent the following day driving throughout the area, purchasing and filling 23 additional backpacks. A total of 1,181 supply-filled backpacks were distributed, setting a record for the occasion. Another two dozen families applied for assistance and received supplies from a list of 28 items, which included pens, markers, crayons, notebooks, scribbling pads, filler paper, folders, glue, and erasers.
Backpacks Bonanza, which was once known as Backpacks & Breakfast, will be even better in 2025.
On August 9, Northern Kentucky Harvest will give away 1,250 backpacks—50 for each year the initiative has been in operation—as part of a first-come, first-served celebration of the giveaway’s 25th anniversary. By doing so, a new record will be set and more than 19,000 backpacks will have been distributed since 2001.
A village is needed.
As always, the Backpacks Bonanza will be a huge event that depends on the kindness of contributors and the time and effort of dozens of volunteers. More information will be made public in the run-up to that date. Each of the six grade categories into which backpacks are divided is filled with a unique set of materials.
The expressions of the adults that enable a child to be happy about going back to school, however, are the only thing that can match the joy on that child’s face when they hold gleaming new pens, markers, and folders.
Emburse, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Alpha Psi Lamda and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternities, the Linstead family, the City of Covington, Brighton Center, Be Concerned, the Covington Rotary, and Covington Holmes Middle School teachers and staff were among the organizations that participated in Backpacks Bonanza 2024.
St. Elizabeth permitted the use of its campus, and Be Concerned supplied the event with tables, canopies, vehicles, warehouse space, and communications support.
Funding for the 2024 event came from:
Durr Foundation, R.C.The Butler FoundationRotary Club of CovingtonFund for Sofagives CharitableThe Howard Scripps FoundationSouthern & Western Financial FundEdgewood’s St. Pius X ChurchHarvest Friends of Northern Kentucky
Backpacks or supplies were supplied by St. Timothy Church in Union, TJ Johnson State Farm Insurance in Wilder, Read Ready Covington, and St. Joseph Church in Cold Spring.
The 2025 distribution has already been partially funded by many of these kind contributors, and local IRS employees in Covington have contributed materials and backpacks.
How to assist
Individual gifts are also accepted by Northern Kentucky Harvest. Please send Harvest President Paul Gottbrath a check made payable to Be Concerned at 1100 W. Pike St., Covington, KY 41011 if you are able to assist. All funds will be allocated specifically for school supplies. Harvest’s EIN is 31-1682076, and donations are tax deductible.
The president of Northern Kentucky Harvest is Paul Gottbrath.