Want to help students-in-need get their school year off to a great start? Donate new supplies to the ACPS Back-to-School Supply Drive.
Each summer, the ACPS Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Center rallies dozens of local organizations and businesses to collect backpacks and essential school supplies. Last year, 2,500 supply-filled backpacks were delivered to ACPS students representing a variety of ethnic, cultural and economic groups from more than 125 different countries, speaking 115 languages and qualifying for free or reduced lunch at a rate of nearly 60 percent.
This year, the goal is even higher. The FACE Center aims to provide supply filled backpacks to 3,000 ACPS students before school starts on September 6.
Your help is needed in order to reach that goal. Here is how:
1. When you are out shopping or buying supplies for your own kids, select extra items from this list of needed supplies:
| 2-Pocket Folders | Highlighters | Spiral Notebooks |
| 3-Ring Binders | Markers | Subject Dividers |
| Backpacks | Pencil Boxes/Zippers | Tissues |
| Colored Pencils | Pencils/Sharpeners | Wide-Rule Filler Paper |
| Crayons | Scissors/Glue/Rulers | Ziploc Bags |
| Erasers |
2. Drop the items in an ACPS Back-to-School Supply Drive collection bin by Tuesday, August 16. The bins can be found in libraries, banks, hotels, retailers, places of worship, and other sites across the city, in addition to the ACPS Central Office lobby. Find a drop-off location on the map below or view the complete list of sites.
3. Spread the word: tell your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues about the supply drive and how they, too, can help.
On August 16, FACE Center staff, with the help of friends in the Alexandria Sheriff’s Department, will pick up the donated supplies. Several dozen volunteers will spend the next few days taking inventory of the supplies and stuffing backpacks for elementary, middle and high school students. If you would like to lend a hand, sign up to volunteer.
Backpacks will be distributed by school-based social workers to ACPS students. To obtain a free backpack, contact your child’s school social worker starting August 26.