Fill the Backpack’s Coshocton

COSHOCTON, Ohio – Coshocton Regional Medical Center has begun receiving donations for their second annual Fill-The-Backpack campaign for the 2022-2023 school year.

The project focuses on reducing the financial burden for both parents and teachers in Coshocton County by providing students with the essential items needed in elementary classrooms.

Coshocton Regional Medical Center’s Business Development and Marketing Director Kaylee Andrews describes how an idea for community outreach blossomed into a community involvement.  

“There never seemed to be a cohesive group that was able to bring all of those organizations together to do it for the benefit of the whole community,” Andrews said. ”Last year was our first year doing it and we were able to pull together with other organizations to make that happen. So, we’re excited to do it again.”

Last year, over 3,300 backpacks were provided to elementary age students in the county and this year they are hoping to expand by pulling together more local organizations to make this a prominent annual event. 

Coshocton Regional Medical Center’s Chief Executive Officer Stephanie Conn noted that last year’s campaign’s late start limited the opportunity for some within the community to participate.

“We’ll happily accept any monetary donation or supply donations, as well as time. Really, that’s where we need a lot of support from the community, is when we go to actually pack the backpacks. It takes a lot of hands to pack 3,300 backpacks,” Conn said.

“Last year we had close to 100 volunteers that helped us pack those backpacks in only 2 days,” Andrews added. “So, those volunteers are huge.”

“Financial support is also greatly appreciated in a project like this,” Conn said. ” We are able to purchase supplies in bulk and at a discount price. So really, we’re able to make dollars stretch a lot further than the personal consumer can.”

Coshocton Regional Medical Center attributes the success of last year’s Fill-the-Backpacks campaign to all of the sponsors who contributed their resources and time.

Although monetary donations and local organizations can make a huge impact, individual contributions are needed in making a difference as well.

“The biggest one would be the backpacks and then we included 10 different school supplies last year,” Andrews said. “So, a lot of these were your core supplies, your colored pencils, crayons, kids scissors, and number two pencils are the big ones.”

Andrews, who is coordinating this year’s campaign, said many of the schools have sent her a list of required supplies and anyone wishing to get involved can contact her at kandrews3@primehealthcare.com or (740) 623-4450.