A graphic of a backpack and the wording "Buy Give Get. A backpack donation program for children in need."

Children In Need During Back-to-School 

Back-to-school season is just around the corner, and many families in our communities are struggling to afford new school supplies. This is especially true for young students who need a variety of supplies to succeed in school.

A new backpack, a set of crayons, a few notebooks, and some pencils may seem like small things, but they can make a big difference for a young child. When kids have the supplies they need, they feel prepared and confident, and they’re more likely to succeed in school.

Unfortunately, not all families can afford to buy new school supplies. According to a recent study, one in five families in every community struggles to afford basic necessities, including school supplies. This means that there are tens of thousands of children in our communities who are going to start the school year without the supplies they need.

A group of Ocean State Job Lot Interns volunteer to fill Buy Give Get Backpacks with donated school supplies for children of military families in need in August, 2022.

Buy-Give-Get Backpacks for Kids in Our Community

This is a problem that we can’t ignore. We believe that every child deserves the opportunity to succeed in school, regardless of their family’s income. That’s why Ocean State Job Lot created the Buy-Give-Get backpack program to support local children in need. 

You can help when you visit any Ocean State Job Lot store and: 

  1. Buy a backpack for $15
  2. Give the backpack back to the cashier, and we’ll make sure it’s delivered to a student in need. 
  3. Get a $15 Crazy Deal Gift Card – free!

When you use the $15 Crazy Deal Gift Card, your final cost will be zero! There’s no cost to you, and a child in need will have a brand new backpack to start the upcoming school year. 

Through this Buy-Give-Get program, we’ll work with our partners at USA Veterans and Military Support Foundation this summer to donate 34,000 backpacks and school supplies to kids in need. Since the program’s inception, over 134,000 backpacks have been donated to children in need, including children of military families. In 2022, our Ocean State Job Lot summer interns gathered at our headquarters in North Kingstown, Rhode Island to help fill 1,500 backpacks with donated school supplies. From there, nearly 34,000 filled backpacks were distributed to children across all nine states where Ocean State Job Lot stores are located in New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Every little bit helps. Together, we can make sure that children in need have a backpack and the supplies they need to succeed in school this year.

We thank you for your support.

An Ocean State Job Lot intern volunteers time at our Buy-Give-Get Backpack filling event, to support military children in need.