Operation Backpack Provides Backpacks for Underprivileged children in Chelsea

Summer is coming to a close, and one organization wants to make sure students from low-income neighborhoods have all the supplies they need for the first day of school.  

The organization Operation Backpack held a backpack drive for underpriviledged children in Chelsea today. Among the students who received a brand-new backpack was 3-year-old Justine Lettley, who ran around showing off her new Spongebob backpack filled with notebooks, crayons and gluesticks.  The youngest of eight, Justine lives in a homeless shelter with her father, Laurence Lettley.  He said this is her first year of school and she wouldn't have school supplies if it weren't for Operation Backpack.

 

"This means a lot because people like my daughter and me can't afford to buy bookbags and stuff like that," Lettley said. "I've never seen anything like this, and I appreciate all of this."

 

The organization plans to give out more than 18,000 backpacks this year.