Valley foundation holds backpack drive for foster kids
PHOENIX - Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation was out early Saturday morning to collect back-to-school goods to ease the financial burden of a new school year.
"There are over 14,000 children in foster care in Arizona," says foundation co-chair Edson Salas."Our goal is to supply 7,000 kids this year with a new backpack and school supplies."
The foundation says they're desperate to help as many kids as possible - to do that, they're calling upon the public.
"40 percent of the children in foster care are under 5 so we need a lot of crayons, a lot of little backpacks, things for the younger children in preschool," Salas says.
At the end of next week, the backpacks and supplies will be distributed to their new owners - a deed, Salas says, that is so rewarding.
"These kids truly don't care what brand the backpack is if they have Spiderman or whatever it is on it," Salas says. "They're just super excited to be able to have a backpack."