USFSC Founder Dean Doeling, above bending over, distributed more than 200 backpacks to JESS students.
JESS elementary school students check out the school supplies inside their new backpacks.
In addition to hosting about 200 students at the Fifth Annual Just Play Day recently, Using Sport for Social Change founder Dean Doeling also stopped by Julius E. Sprauve School with a few hundred donations in hand.
This is the second year in which Doeling has worked with the Global Backpack Project to donate brand new backpacks filled with school supplies to local students. Last year, Doeling distributed backpacks to students Guy Benjamin School in Coral Bay and this year, he stopped by the Cruz Bay public school.
“Last year we donated backpacks and school supplies to all the at Guy Benjamin School kids,” said Doeling. “This year we wanted to spread the project to the Julius E. Sprauve School. We couldn’t get enough for the whole school, but we still wanted to do something with JESS.”
“So we determined that the elementary school kids would benefit more, so we brought 220 backpacks to JESS one morning,” said Doeling.
Transporting all the boxes of backpacks slated for donation presented a logistical challenge, Doeling added.
“It was tough logistically,” he said. “But the kids came and they were super eager and anxious. Their eyes were all big and they weren’t quite sure what was going to happen.”
“When we started handing out the backpacks, they were so excited,” said Doeling. “It was really just a great thing to see.”
Doeling hopes to be able to work with the Global Backpack Project again next year, he explained.
“It’s all a supply and demand thing, but we are going to try,” said the USFSC founder. “We hope to be included in their budget next year and be back with more backpacks to hand out.”
For more information on the Global Backpack Project, check out www.globalbackpackproject.org.
