SC homeless students to get backpacks, supplies

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The national charity Feed The Children is distributing 1,900 backpacks and supplies to homeless school children from South Carolina.

Feed The Children is giving the backpacks to officials of the State Department of Education on Friday in Columbia. They will pass the backpacks on to representatives who work with homeless students in more than 60 school districts throughout the state.

Feed The Children spokesman Mark Opgrande says the backpacks are filled with school supplies, non-perishable food, personal hygiene items like toothpaste and combs, and children’s books.

Opgrande says Feed The Children is working with Staples, Inc., and the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth on the project to distribute 150,000 backpacks during the current school year.