Backpacks, books and school supplies

A good beginning to the school year

The annual Backpack Drive brings a familiar ritual—getting ready for school—into Neighbors Helping Neighbors. Residents contribute backpacks filled with educational supplies for children living in city shelters.

In August 2016, the Block Association thanked the neighbors who had supported that year’s Back to School Drive. The notice is a small record of a recurring effort: ensuring that children have useful materials when a new school year begins.

2006–2007

A wider circle of support for children

The annual project lists name an Easter-basket project for the Foundling Hospital alongside the P.S. 40 partnership, educational support and family collections. This was a charitable project for children in care, separate from the Trustees’ private Park events.

2007

Theatre for public-school children

The 2007 list names the Block Association’s support for a Paper Bag Players benefit at The Players, chaired by neighbor Martha Patricof and introduced by Whoopi Goldberg. The entry connects the benefit with theatre programming in public schools.

The document explicitly combines past and upcoming activities. It establishes the Block Association’s stated support and the proposed benefit, without supplying a completed-event report or an amount raised.

2013

The first Back to School Drive

The September 2013 report called that year’s collection the Gramercy Park Block Association’s first annual Neighbors Helping Neighbors Back to School Drive. It thanked residents for school supplies intended mainly for children in city shelters and showed Project LIFT staff collecting donations.

2013

Books for children in care

The December 6 newsletter invited neighbors to contribute new books for children aged two to twelve at the Foundling Hospital and the Beth Israel Pediatric Ward. It was a specific holiday collection, separate from the autumn school-supply drive and the later Project Cicero classroom collections.

The notice preserves another route through which neighbors could help: a book chosen for a child spending time in a hospital or care setting.

2014–2017

An annual collection takes shape

The August 2014 notice announced an August Back to School Drive, and another illustrated appeal in August 2017 requested backpacks and educational supplies. These notices bridge the first collection in 2013 and the later thank-you letters. They show the project returning at the start of successive school years.

2015

Children helped with the collection

The August 2015 thank-you singled out two young volunteers, aged seven and nine, who took part in the Back to School Drive for children in city shelters. The notice records children contributing to a project intended to help other children prepare for school.

Books for classrooms

The Block Association also supports the Brotherhood Synagogue’s collection for Project Cicero. A February 2017 newsletter invited donations of new and gently used books for children from kindergarten through high school in under-resourced public schools.

2018

Backpacks for another school year

In August 2018, the Block Association thanked neighbors for dozens of backpacks filled with school supplies for children in city shelters. The report also connected the collection with the Block Association’s ongoing support for Project LIFT.

2024

A continuing partnership with the precinct

The Block Association’s December 2024 account described the annual backpack collection working with NYPD Youth Coordination Officers. Neighbors supplied backpacks and educational materials for children living in shelters, extending the project’s longstanding connection between local generosity and partner organizations.

More than one route to opportunity

The work sits alongside Project LIFT, where scholarships, mentoring and practical support help young people pursue their potential. The GPBA Scholars program also identifies students in need and provides scholarships and mentoring through local relationships and partner organizations.

Read about Neighbors Helping Neighbors.