Saturday, June 22, 2024
Any Hood County student in dire need of a backpack can greatly benefit through Cool Junk Antique Boutique’s first-ever backpack drive this summer.
Last week, owner Sarah Harvey-Toth announced she is now accepting donations of new or gently used backpacks all summer long and will be distributing the backpacks to students later this summer — completely free of charge.
“I've always been a huge advocate for students, especially public education,” Harvey-Toth told the Hood County News. “I've been a volunteer for Operation School Supplies for the past 10 years and have seen the need for backpacks continually. The need has only grown every year. OSS has been great at offering drawstring bags, but we know those don't last, as well as the fact that they often come branded with the sponsor’s logo — which, in my opinion, labels the student as ‘low-income’ by their peers.”
Operation School Supplies is a nonprofit organization that has provided free school supplies to Hood County families in need. While the project is currently entering its 23rd year, the growing need has resulted in a recent partnership with Granbury Independent School District to assist with gathering donations and support.
As a native of Granbury and its school district, Harvey-Toth said she witnessed first-hand how hard it can be to fit in, especially at the middle school level. She said she made a promise to herself five years ago that she would make it her goal to provide new backpacks for students as soon as she could.
"We all know times are tough, and I've personally had one obstacle after another, which has not allowed the funds necessary to provide 1,500-plus new backpacks,” she said. “So, after talking with my own children, we decided we may not have the money, but we have the means to collect, clean and distribute gently used backpacks to others. Thankfully we have Cool Junk to facilitate this project.”
Throughout this summer, volunteers can drop-off new or gently used backpacks to Cool Junk at 1600 W. Pearl St. Backpacks need to be free of personal belongings and in usable condition.
From July 22 through Aug. 23, Hood County students in need of a backpack can visit Cool Junk and pick out a backpack for free.
“One bag per student,” Harvey-Toth said. “We’re not asking anyone to provide documentation of any sort at this time. That may change in the future. Stop in and pick out the bag you'd like. Simple and easy!”
Harvey-Toth said while she would love to provide for every student in need, she is starting small with a goal of collecting 200 backpacks from the community.
"We have collected around 10 so far but have had lots of social media engagements with the promise of more to come,” she said.
As for the future, Harvey-Toth said she would love to grow this project to allow the donation and distribution of lunch boxes and other necessary items that Operation School Supplies does not cover.
"We are in talks with GISD and OSS to make sure all needs are met but not over-saturated,” she said.
Although Cool Junk’s relocation last year wasn’t ideal, Harvey-Toth said the new location on Pearl St. is the perfect spot to host the backpack drive as it’s close to both Granbury Middle School and Granbury High School.
"The silver lining is we are very conveniently located to pull this off,” she said. “We love being so close to middle and high school and all the local students and community support we have received. We just want to give back when we can.”
To contribute to the project, donate a backpack to Cool Junk from 10:30 a.m.- 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
For more information about the backpack drive, call Cool Junk at 682-936-4233.
