Prism Urgently Seeking Community Help to Supply Children with Back-to-School Supplies

The school season is quickly upon us, and recent surveys show families spend on average $800 on back-to-school supplies. PRISM’s annual Back to School Success program helps to further their budget by providing strong quality backpacks filled with essential supplies to more than 700 kids each year. PRISM’s program allows families to come in and choose the backpacks and supplies that mean the most for their children. The program assists families with school age children (K-12) who live in Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, New Hope, Crystal, and Plymouth.

“It is so uplifting seeing kids get excited about finding their favorite character, color, or pattern on a backpack to give them confidence going into the school year”, states PRISM Executive Director, Michelle Ness. “The community’s support so far has been AMAZING! However, we have some work to do. We rely on the generosity of our community to make these programs possible.”

PRISM does not currently have enough supplies to fulfil the needs of the registered families. The local organization will be hosting an emergency campaign to raise $10,000 in order purchase necessary items to fill all the backpacks, and PRISM is calling on the community for help. There are multiple ways to assist with the Back to School Sucess including a monetary donation online (Indicate children’s program when making donation), order items from PRISM’s pre-set registries, or bring items to PRISM’s location at 1220 Zane Avenue, North, Golden Valley, MN 55422. Staff will also be on-site Thursday, August 11th from 4pm-7pm hosting a supply drive on the PRISM Plaza (outside our main doors). Most needed items include Strong Quality Backpacks (Both elementary and high school), notebooks (college and wide ruled), calculators, pencils, two pocket folders, and college ruled lined paper.

For more information on PRISM’s Back to School Success contact Alisha Weis at aweis@prismmpls.org.