The Zakat Foundation of America

Nov 16, 2009

Backpack distribution

Zakat Foundation maintains an ongoing commitment to help ease the suffering of the poor and disaster-stricken people of Bangladesh. Since the establishment of a regional office in Bangladesh in 2007, Zakat Foundation has supported an orphan sponsorship program, food distribution in Ramadan, and emergency relief after Cyclone Sidr.In the summer of 2008, the children of Bangladesh were on our minds. We hoped to provide backpacks and school supplies for those children who strive to receive an education in order to better their lives, but do not have the means to buy the necessary tools.Our donors stepped up to make this happen. Through our Backpack Program, we received approximately 1,000 backpacks from schools and individuals around the United States.

Each backpack was filled with notebooks, pens and pencils, and other school supplies as well as toys and personalized letters to the children from young donors. Volunteers packed these backpacks, along with an estimated $15,000 worth of clothes and medical supplies, in a shipping container that was sent to Bangladesh in August 2008.

Our Backpack Program, “To Kids, From Kids, With Love,” is aimed to foster charitable giving in young children as they are encouraged to pack the backpack themselves and to write a letter to the recipient child.