After five years, Jericho Cares’ annual Back to School Drive is bigger than ever and set to return on Aug. 17. The nonprofit, which assists local families who need additional food and clothing, was founded in 2020 and delivers supplies to families within a 20-mile radius of Jericho.
“We’re growing every year. We get bigger and bigger,” said Diane Saunders, the nonprofit’s secretary.
Saunders is one of the organization’s founding members. She said she was inspired to create the back-to-school drive after seeing students in her middle school classroom without new backpacks and shoes each year.
This year the event will be held on Aug. 17 at the Jericho Firehouse No. 2 at 1 p.m. Saunders said the department typically partners with Jericho Cares to lend them a space for the event.
Event Co-Chair Jodi Orbuch said it is an “incredible, meaningful experience to see kids who otherwise wouldn’t have a new backpack or sneakers.”
Orbuch said she has volunteered with the organization for many years and has been a board member for a year and a half.
Saunders and Orbuch said they estimate that the drive will donate approximately 125 sneakers this year. They said the nonprofit is still accepting donations, and that their estimate may increase before September. Saunders said the nonprofit is holding its first bingo fundraiser on Aug. 1 to raise money for the drive.
Orbuch said each year the nonprofit asks the children what types of shoes and styles they like, hoping to accommodate each one. Last year, she said a teenage boy received his first pair of Nike sneakers and “couldn’t contain his excitement.”
She said moments like that are “what it’s all about.”
Saunders said she previously worked in the Freeport School District, an area that the nonprofit serves. She said that years ago, one of her seventh-grade students had received a pair of Adidas and “came running up” to show her on the first day of school.
But the students don’t only receive backpacks and sneakers. In recent years, Orbuch said the event has expanded to include reusable water bottles and supplies, as well as Halloween costumes.
Saunders said many organizations help with the drive, including the Morgan Walsh Foundation, the John Theissen Children Foundation and local teachers’ unions, among others. Orbuch said a face painter and the Jericho-based nonprofit New York Literacy Project will be present as well.
“It’s a real community effort. It’s a great event,” Orbuch said.
