Bart’s Pantry at OLPH Spearheads School Supply Drive

Dozens of backpacks boxed for donation after the 2025 OLPH School Supply Drive.

By Michelle Rosa Raybeck

Even the wealthiest parents are aware of the high cost of school supplies, and with rising economic inflation in the past few months, it’s not a big leap to imagine that many families find it hard to afford supplies for their children—even here in Oakland. These are the children who go to school unprepared and have difficulty completing their homework because they lack the necessary supplies. To address this need, a coalition of local organizations is conducting a school supply drive this summer, and they welcome participation from the greater community.

The school supply drive started through Bart’s Pantry at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (OLPH) in Oakland, which has been collecting groceries and delivering them to food pantries in Newark and East Orange for many years. “We saw a massive need. Pretty much every Saturday, the pantry in Newark is open for families to come through. In addition to donating food, OLPH also sends volunteers to help with distribution most Saturdays. About 300 registered families come through the pantry every week in Newark, and a lot of them have little kids,” said Dawn Torpey of the Stewardship Council at OLPH. “The volunteers from Bart’s Pantry learned from parents…that they were unable to afford school supplies, so some regular volunteers took action, collecting money and purchasing supplies to bring to the food pantry. The next year, the Stewardship Council decided to organize a school supply drive at OLPH in the hopes of helping even more families, and we had great success…we hit our goal of creating and distributing 100 full backpacks to the Pierre Toussaint Food Pantry at St. Mary’s Church in Newark.”

Working on the school supply drive with the intention of helping the families in Newark and East Orange, the Stewardship Council came to a surprising realization. “We also discovered a local need right outside our door. It was a real eye-opener to me that this level of need exists right here in our own backyard. In a community like Oakland, it is very easy to overlook. It can be incredibly hard and embarrassing for kids when they look around the classroom, see what their friends have, and realize they aren't prepared,” Torpey said.

OLPH worked with local organizations to identify and confidentially reach the Oakland families in need. “Through a connection with the Mothers’ Club of Oakland, last year we were able to provide backpacks to about 25 local families, and we were also able to give school supplies to Ponds Food Pantry here in Oakland."

Michele Weintraub, Director of Food Security Programs at Ponds Reformed Church, stated, "For several years, Ponds Food Pantry and our Soul to Soul program, which offers diapers, wipes and formula to mothers in need, have shared school supplies with our pantry guests. We are thankful for the continuous support of the greater Oakland community as we help local parents who struggle to put food on the table and then face the added expense of back-to-school shopping.” 

This year, OLPH hopes to provide full backpacks to a minimum of 150 families, but they are being very intentional about how they fill those backpacks. The purpose of this article is to help Bart’s Pantry exceed that goal. “This year, we are trying to be more specific with what we actually need, so we don't get lots of random items. My daughter is a teacher in town, and she helped us focus the list on the essential items."

School Supply Needs

New (not used) items needed:

• Crayola crayons, colored pencils and markers
• One-subject notebooks
• Composition notebooks
• Pencils and manual pencil sharpeners
• Rulers
• Solid-color student-size backpacks
• Gift cards for Staples and Amazon
• Monetary donations: checks should be made out to the St. Vincent DePaul Fund

A boy shows off his new backpack as families in the background pick up donated school supplies.

Even the recommendation of solid-color backpacks is the result of what the volunteers learned last year: the need is not just for young children who like themed backpacks; some older students also go to school without supplies. Torpey explained: "I took notes last year to make sure I knew what we needed and what didn't go well. Last year, a few people donated pre-filled backpacks, but a lot of them were too elementary-focused. Our program provides backpacks and school supplies for families in need with children ages 5-14. That's why simple, solid colors are the way to go this year—they work for any grade level."

The Knights of Columbus provided donations that made the drive easier and more effective last year, Torpey said. "The Knights of Columbus have been incredibly generous. Grandknight Craig Swenson was able to secure the backpacks themselves at cost, which was an unexpected gift to our program last year that they are doing again. But we definitely welcome [all] donations of [solid color] backpacks, core supplies, and gift cards."

If you’d like to donate, collection boxes are located inside OLPH Church and outside its Parish Office at 17 Franklin Avenue (across from the church). There is also a collection box behind Ponds Church, for those who wish to donate directly to Ponds Pantry. The deadline for donations is Aug. 10.

Once the collection is over, OLPH volunteers will sort and count all donated items to ensure there are enough supplies to create at least 150 backpacks. Monetary donations will be used to purchase additional supplies to supplement what was collected. Bart’s Pantry, with the help of the local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, will stuff the backpacks with school supplies. The plan is to bring the full backpacks to Newark on Aug. 22, and Oakland family pickup is scheduled for Aug. 23. Local families can also pick up school supplies from Ponds Pantry at Ponds Reformed Church.

"I am recently retired, but I’ve worked in education my whole life across a variety of socioeconomic areas. It is so much harder for underprivileged kids to get a fair start when they lack family resources. To me, giving them the tools to walk into the classroom prepared on day one is invaluable. The smiles on their faces are the greatest reward."

Contact Torpey at dawn.torpey27@gmail.com or 201-248-0147 for more information.

Danette Green of the Mothers’ Club contributed material for this article.