Our Second Annual Back to School Charity Donation #BagItForward 2012

Heading back to school is such an amazing time.  Children become engrossed with their brand new school supplies, clothes, and shoes.  But there are some children who are not excited about Back to School because their families are unable to afford the quality school supplies that the school requests.  Instead of feeling joy these children feel sad or anxious.  But it doesn’t have to be that way!  With a few extra dollars you can help a child in need.  We hope you find our story inspiring.

We recently went to Walmart to shop for supplies for a student at one of our local elementary schools as part of the Bag It Forward mission.  I wanted to see exactly how much it would cost to buy every item on the list for an anonymous child.  I took it one step further and also purchased a brand new backpack to put all the materials in.  What good are supplies without a bag?

Walmart has a HUGE Elmer’s First Day of School display set up which had all of our local school’s supply lists.  This display also has information about  the Elmer’s 1st Day App, which allows parents to capture those priceless “1st Day” moments year after year.  There is a spiffy little QR code that you can scan with your phone to install the app easily.  In a nutshell, the 1st Day App allows you to create a slideshow of the 1st Day of School preparations and email it to your child’s most adoring fans (Grandma and Grandpa) with complete ease!  But it gets better because……

For every photo uploaded in the 1st Day App, Elmer’s will donate one product to The Kids In Need Foundation (up to 200,000 products).  Just buy snapping a few pictures of your back to school shopping experience or 1st day excitement you are helping children in need.  How cool is that?

Plus…..X-Acto Desinger Series and Walmart are offering a chance to win a trip for four to Disney World!  The entry form can be found on the 1st Day App site!

My girls and I shopped for all 24 items on the list and a backpack.  Since we chose a second grade student we compromised on a girl’s backpack that didn’t have a character on it.  A few trips up and down the school supply aisles yielded almost all of the supplies we sought.  The two items that had us scrambling were the green pen and red pen, medium point.  Medium point?  In an aisle full of pens?  Fingers crossed that what we purchased is actually correct.

We headed to the register to see what our total would be.  If my girls were a few years older we would have played the guessing game to see who could get closest to the total, but since Little Sister randomly makes up numbers that end in “hundred thousand” I knew this was not a game for today.

The total for all the items we purchased to pay it forward, including tax, was $33.88.  The backpack was $8.88 of that, so that essentially drops the price to $25.00 exactly to help make one child’s back to school experience one of happiness for having all the supplies she needs.  Twenty five dollars is one dinner out…..or a week’s worth of coffee.  It is a doable amount of money to help a child.

At home we double checked the list to make sure we didn’t forget anything. Then we loaded up the backpack.

We headed to the local elementary school to donate our #BagItForward donation.  This is our second year donating school supplies directly to a school versus dropping the items in a bin (you can view last year’s BagItForward post here).  My girls have learned so much about philanthropy by being involved in this project from start to finish.  By taking them to the school they can see a little bit more about the impact their generosity is making.

The secretary at the school was literally moved to tears when the girls handed over the school supplies that we purchased for donation.  She hugged each of the girls and told them that what they were doing was incredibly special.  I have to admit, that she made a teeny tear pop up in the corner of my eye too.  As we were leaving Big Sister said, “Mom, if that lady is so happy then the girl who gets the bag is going to be reeeeeeaaaalllly happy.”  True, true, true!

If you can spare a few extra dollars you too can help make the transition back to school a successful one.  It is both easy and affordable it is to grab extra supplies while doing your own back to school shopping.  Pick up a few items or choose an entire school supply list and donate today!  Check for donation bins, head to your food pantry, or take the items to the school itself when you have all your  supplies ready.  Be sure to involve your children.  This is truly a unique time in their lives when they can help a same age peer.  We will continue this tradition for many years to come.  It is my favorite way that we help others as a family.

Don’t forget to snap a few pictures with the 1st Day app.  For every photo uploaded in the 1st Day App, Elmer’s will donate one product to The Kids In Need Foundation (up to 200,000 products).

Some additional photos from our 2nd annual Bag It Forward trip can be found on Google+ here.  You can follow Elmer’s on Facebook and follow Elmer’s on Twitter.  For even more Bag it Forward Inspiration be sure to see follow Bag it Forward on Pinterest.

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and and Elmer’s.  #BagItForward #CBias #SocialFabric.  All opinions are my own.