With the start of a new School year less than a week away, local school boards and community partners in London, Ont., are teaming up once again to help families afford back-to-school essentials for their young learners.

The Best First Day backpack drive was created in partnership with the Thames Valley Education Foundation, United Way Elgin Middlesex and The Salvation Army London Community and Family Services.

The annual community-wide initiative has provided backpacks and school supplies to students in need for more than 20 years — and it’s needed now more than ever, according to Brittany Webb, executive director and community and corporate fund development officer for the Foundation.

“We have 3,200 backpacks packed [and] ready to go out for all the kids who unfortunately might not have the funds that they need to get them their backpacks and all their supplies to start the best first day they could have,” she said.

Last year, over 3,000 backpacks were filled with school supplies and distributed to students in the Thames Valley District School Board, London District Catholic School Board and Indigenous communities.

With the goal of packing over 3,500 backpacks for students in London, Elgin, Middlesex and Oxford counties, donations will be accepted until Friday.

“Every year we see individuals, corporations, [and] our labour partners all come forward with huge boxes of things that they’ve collected in workplaces,” said Kelly Ziegner, president and CEO of United Way Elgin Middlesex. “We also have individuals and families who, when they’re out stuffing backpacks for their kids, stuff one more for a kid in need.”

She added that with the rising cost of basic necessities and the reality of economic inflation, they’ve also anticipated an increased need for the drive.

“We’re hearing universally from all our United Way partners that more and more families are having a hard time making ends meet,” Ziegner said.

“A lot of them are looking for additional ways to supplement their income or their resources through programs like Best First Day so that they’re able to still put food on the table and give their kids a full backpack to start their first day off right.”

Going back to Webb, she added that the need for emergency support across the school board alone continues to grow.

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“We have the Caring Fund to directly support the students in the schools for emergency needs,” she said. “In the last two years alone, requests for basic necessities like food, clothing and shelter made to the Thames Valley Education Foundation’s Caring Fund have more than doubled.”

Webb stressed that “some kids don’t even come to school if they can’t afford to bring a lunch with them,” adding that “about 62 per cent of the supports given to students through the Caring Fund go towards hunger every year.”

“We want to make sure that every kid has breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything that they need to make sure that they are able to retain all the information [and] have a great day while getting the same opportunity that everyone else is having,” she said.

“That’s the most important thing for us is that every kid in Thames Valley has the same opportunities as the next.”

Students, families and guardians interested in picking up a backpack through the Best First Day backpack drive are asked to contact their school principal to make a request.

More information can also be found at bestfirstday.ca.

– with files from Global News’ Mike Stubbs and Devon Peacock