School Kids Bag Free Book Bags

By CHRISTELL CHERENFANT

All dressed up in uniform yellow shirts, ready for the first day of school on Thursday, an enthusiastic group of Brooklyn second and third graders waited at the edge of their seats, eyeing a rainbow of brightly colored free backpacks.

At P.S. 156 in Brownsville, FedEx Cares and United Way of New York City teamed up to deliver the book bags, full of supplies, to the lucky students. The children weren’t picked at random but participated in a reading program over the summer.

“These students were involved in the Once Upon a Time literacy program,” said Jennifer Johnson, a worker for United Way of New York City.

Senior Director Marielys Divanne added that the organization was making efforts to double the number of children who are reading at grade level by the year 2020. According to their website, a summer reading program, ReadNYC, was launched in 2014 in hopes of increasing reading levels. In the summer of 2015, almost 200 children joined and 89 percent of them had increased their overall reading level.

“We together, as a village, with FedEx and our partners and you and your moms and your dads, together we can achieve a goal,” said Divanne.

The managing director of Long Island District at FedEx Express, Nanette Malebranche, said that by the year 2020, they pledged to invest $200 million in 200 communities in order to provide bags for more students. Each backpack was equipped with essential school supplies and books, to make sure that all of the students would be reading. When it came time for the students to go up on stage to choose their bags, they chose with caution.

“I want this bag,” said a male third grader, picking up the backpack with animated movie characters from “The Minions” on it. There were more bags available than there were students so that each child had a fair chance in choosing a book bag that he or she liked.

“I’m happy to be back at school because I can learn and read; I like to read,” said a third grade girl who had many braids in her hair.

The workers’ faces lit up with joy as they observed the pleasure on the children’s faces after they’d just received their backpack full of supplies.