Bucks County Opportunity Council (BCOC) is kicking off their 26th annual back-to-school drive and is asking for community donations to support students in need.
Preferred donations to the anti-poverty nonprofit’s drive include gift cards — with a minimum of $100 per child — ensuring that families can shop together for essentials. Other ways to donate include purchased backpacks, school supplies or lunch bags for the drive.
Donations support children of parents in BCOC’s Economic Self-Sufficiency Program, designed to instill low-income families with the education, skills and resources they need to become financially independent.
Amy Griffiths, communications and development manager for BCOC, described the challenge returning to class poses to families struggling financially.
“Back to school time always causes stress because every year schools are putting more and more of the responsibility back on the parents to provide material,” Griffiths said. “And also, kids want to have what everybody else has.”
Last year, BCOC’s fundraiser raised supplies and funding for 181 students.
“A better educated community is better for all of us,” Griffiths said. “A more confident, secure child makes a more confident, secure student.”
How to donate
Donations — both gift cards and school supplies — should be dropped off at the following BCOC offices:
- Quakertown: 125 California Road, Quakertown, PA 18951
- Doylestown: 252 W. Swamp Rd. (Route 313) Unit 5 Doylestown, PA 18901
- Bristol: 721 Veterans Highway Bristol, PA 19007
Drop offs can be made at these locations between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The deadline to make donations to the back-to-school drive Aug. 7.
