2026 Backpack Blessing and School Supply Drive
On August 2nd, 2026, Feed and Read Ohio celebrated its 23rd School Supply Drive at First Unitarian Universalist Church. Following the 10 AM church service, congregants gathered in Beach Hall to stuff 319 backpacks full of donated school supplies.
This marks the third year in a row that First UU has hosted a special service called the Backpack Blessing. Feed and Read Ohio’s leader Jacques Angelino stood before the congregation and delivered an important message: access to a good education offers the surest path out of poverty.
After Jacques addressed the crowd, Rev. Amber Scott led the congregation in the Backpack Blessing. Attendees of the service were given pieces of paper and markers and instructed to write letters to place in the backpacks. Some letters simply said, “Good luck at school this year!” Other congregants drew cheerful depictions of animals, school supplies, and landscapes with trees and the quintessential smiling suns.
All attendees then joined together to sing From You I Receive, a simple song that serves as a reminder of the Unitarian Universalist shared value of generosity.
“From you I receive,
To you I give.
Together we share,
And from this we live.”
In her sermon, Rev. Amber Scott followed up with a profound reminder: children lacking the essentials to succeed in school is a systemic problem.
“Often students in the poorest zip codes end up trying to learn without the basics that many peers take for granted. This is a systemic problem that demands a systemic change. But our value of generosity calls us to respond before systemic change can take place.”
Once the service concluded, people of all ages filed into Beach Hall and proceeded to the backpack-stuffing line. They chatted amongst themselves while working their way down the colorful assembly line to add notebooks, folders, rulers, and more to the backpacks. This scene of organized chaos produced a large pile of stuffed backpacks, ready to be donated to children attending North Linden Elementary School.
Feed and Read Ohio has built an ongoing relationship with the school, where a significant proportion of students come from economically disadvantaged homes.
Feed and Read Ohio is grateful to our volunteers who help make this work possible.
Please consider signing up to volunteer, and help us keep this important work going.
