Fall is a time of great possibilities – but also of added financial pressure for families already navigating the high costs of housing, food, transportation, and childcare.

Solid Ground’s annual Pack It Forward back-to-school supply drive is rooted in a simple belief: Young people thrive when their basic needs are met, their confidence is nurtured, and their community shows up for them. 

This year, donors, sponsors, volunteers, residents, and community partners surpassed our goals and equipped 100 kids and teens with essentials for the school year: backpacks, school supplies, and financial support totaling $10,000 to meet additional family needs. Every student who received supplies was either part of a family taking part in one of Solid Ground’s Stabilization programs or a resident of our Sand Point Housing or Broadview Shelter & Transitional Housing. 

More than backpacks 

Pack It Forward helps ensure families don’t have to choose between putting food on the table or gas in the tank and setting their kids up for success at school. By easing one financial burden, we hope to help students enter the classroom prepared, confident, and knowing that they belong. 

A backpack won’t end homelessness, domestic violence, or economic inequity. But it affirms something powerful to every student: Your future matters, and your community is behind you.  

This year’s supply drive culminated on Friday, August 14 when Sand Point and Broadview families gathered for Solid Ground’s Summer Social and School Supply Distribution – an evening of back-to-school support, food, play, and connection. 

Families began at Solid Ground’s Lowry Community Center, where children and caregivers filled brand-new backpacks with donated school supplies and hygiene essentials, including pens, erasers, scissors, calculators, glue, and notebooks.  

Instead of receiving identical, prepacked bags, families moved through a shopping-style distribution area and selected the items that best fit their children’s ages, interests, and needs. We set up the event this way because choice matters. It honors families as experts in their own lives, allowing them to pick out just what their kids need. 

Celebration & connection 

After filling their backpacks to the brim, families made their way across the Sand Point campus to a late-summer celebration with their neighbors. A nine-hole dinosaur-themed mini-golf course brought a little prehistoric competition, while a bubble party supplied plenty of joy and play. 

Award-winning Lil Red’s Jamaican and Soul Food provided a delicious buffet for families to enjoy together. Over shared food, games, and laughter, neighbors had space to connect and celebrate the possibilities of the coming school year. 

The event and campaign helped meet practical needs for dozens of families, but it also showed something larger: Community care is rooted in creating joy. Building a more just community isn’t only about eliminating barriers – it’s about creating spaces where families can experience belonging, relaxation, and fun. 

Powered by community 

Solid Ground doesn’t do this work alone. We’re deeply grateful to Pack It Forward sponsors Cambia Health Foundation and Community Health Plan of Washington, whose generous partnership helped meet essential needs while creating an experience centered on dignity, joy, and connection. 

Thank you also to the community organizations that hosted drives, collected supplies, shared the campaign, and helped fill critical gaps. We’re also grateful to every donor who purchased a backpack, contributed to school or hygiene supplies, made a financial gift, or invited others to take part. 

Thanks also to the residents, volunteers, and staff who welcomed families, organized supplies, carried boxes, served dinner, supported activities, and stepped in wherever needed. The event wouldn’t have been possible without the work of volunteers Michelle Zheng, Sara Allen, Zenkosi Zulu, Russel Stromberg, and Jennifer Tate. 

This is the heart of Pack It Forward: When we organize together around belonging, dignity, and opportunity, we do more than prepare students for their first day of school. We help build a community where every young person has the support and freedom to thrive. 

Help invest in youth all year round! 

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