Back to School Backpacks

COSHOCTON, Ohio – The Coshocton Regional Medical Center works diligently to make sure that kids receive the school supplies they need when they start the new school year in August.

Medical Center Business Development and Marketing Director Kaylee Andrews explained how the program reduces stress amongst teachers, families and students.

“This is our third year doing this project. It’s called Fill the Backpack Coshocton,” Andrews said. “This project impacts about thirty-five hundred students, elementary age, from Pre-K to Sixth Grade in this area. We provide each one of those students with a backpack and then about 10 school supplies that is on every school district’s list. So this isn’t everything but it’s a really great start for that amount of kids in the community.”

The medical center works with other businesses and organizations throughout the community to not only purchase the school supplies but to gather volunteers to fill the packs. 

“We start in February and we start that campaign process so a lot of our organizations will get a letter from me that we’re trying to raise funding for this project. So about 60 percent of this project does come from Coshocton Regional Medical Center and then we try to partner with our area businesses and organizations for the remaining amount,” Andrews said.

Once the funding is set and the purchasing has been completed, they plan for the packing and distribution process. A steady stream of volunteers will have the 3,500 backpacks filled within 2 or 3 days.

The backpacks will then be sent to elementary schools throughout the county for distribution.

Anyone interested in learning more about the project’s details or making donations can visit the Coshocton Regional Medical Center’s Facebook page.