On August 7, 2020, Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference youth and adult volunteers met at Schnell School in Placerville to distribute backpacks filled with needed school supplies to 275 students in the community. The youth committee was in charge of collecting the needed supplies, sorting and filling backpacks, as well as participating in the drive thru distribution of the backpacks.
For this year’s drive, we had to change the way we collected supplies while staying socially distanced. We received numerous backpacks, school supplies, and monetary donations to be used for the purchase of needed supplies. The supplies were collected at our Hands4Hope youth centers in El Dorado Hills and Placerville. Blue collection bins were also located at businesses from El Dorado Hills to Placerville, including: Face in a Book, The California Welcome Center, Vibe Salon, Robinson’s Pharmacy, T.W. Bonkers Toy and Candy Emporium, Office Max, El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce and Boeger Winery. We also created an option for people to donate online which brought in $2995 in donations to be used for purchasing needed supplies. In addition to this, we received a donation of 40 filled backpacks from Dan Normoyle, State Farm Agent, 48 backpacks from Rolling Hills Church and 100 backpacks from Blue Shield of California employees.
This year, the need in the community has been greater than previous years. For this reason, we have extended the drive and continue to work to fill backpacks for an additional 250 youth still in need. We are currently waiting for a shipment of backpacks to arrive so they can be filled and distributed to the students on our waitlist in the next two weeks. Providing for a record number of over 525 students this year has been made possible because of generous donations from individuals,businesses, and churches in the community . . . we are so grateful to all who donated and helped in this effort!