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Pass It Along distributes backpacks

| 29 Sep 2015 | 03:54
    Volunteers and Employees from New Jersey Devils, Prudential Center and Pass It Along are shown.
    Volunteers and Employees from New Jersey Devils, Prudential Center and Pass It Along are shown.
    Kathy Rathbone, director of Annual Events at Pass It Along, passes out backpacks.
    Kathy Rathbone, director of Annual Events at Pass It Along, passes out backpacks.
    Diane Taylor, founder of Pass it Along with two students from JFK.
    Diane Taylor, founder of Pass it Along with two students from JFK.
    At Prudential Center volunteers and employees from the New Jersey Devils, Prudential Center and Pass It Along.
    At Prudential Center volunteers and employees from the New Jersey Devils, Prudential Center and Pass It Along.
    Diane Taylor, founder of Pass it Along, is shown with a student from JFK
    Diane Taylor, founder of Pass it Along, is shown with a student from JFK
    Lorena Sergent, director of Marketing and Corporate Relations, addresses the volunteers and employees.
    Lorena Sergent, director of Marketing and Corporate Relations, addresses the volunteers and employees.
    Volunteers and Employees from NJ Devils, Prudential Center and Pass It Along.
    Volunteers and Employees from NJ Devils, Prudential Center and Pass It Along.

SPARTA — Pass It Along has been delivering backpacks to Tilly’s Kids for the past 14 years with the help of donations from individuals and corporations.

Through the relationships that Pass It Along has with the different school districts throughout the state it was apparent that there were a few schools in Newark that could use some extra help.

Thanks to a relationship between Pass It Along and the New Jersey Devils over 500 children in Newark are now ready for the new school year.

All the backpacks were stuffed at the Prudential Center by the Devils and Prudential Center employees. Kelly Bonventre, director of programs and grant development for Pass It Along said to the group of volunteers, “The impact goes beyond readying these kids for the first day of school, it’s readying them for the year.”

The first recipients were entire student body of John F. Kennedy School, a district wide middle-secondary special education school for those students’ ages 10-21 years old. There are three programs at this school: Autistic, multiple disabilities with moderate cognitive involvement and the medically fragile. On the first day of school, Thursday, Sept. 3, Pass It Along was there to surprise the kids with the backpacks filled with the supplies needed for each student.

“Anything that anyone does for this population, for these children, it is always welcoming,” JFK Principal Glenda Johnson-Green said as Devils employees and Pass It Along staff interacted with the students.

The second group of kids was the approximate 300 students in grades 1-5 at South 17th Street. This school has approximately a 99 percent reduced or free lunch student population. These students received their backpacks on Thursday, Sept. 9, which were also filled with the supplies needed for each student.