Volunteers with the Berrien Community Foundation will be at the Whirlpool Riverview campus in Benton Harbor next week giving out 2,000 backpacks filled with supplies to local students. BCF Program Manager Susan Matheny told WSJM News this month the Backpacks for Good program has been around for a few years, and next Wednesday’s Benton Harbor event will be a new location for it.
“We started three years ago in the Coloma- Watervliet area for Coloma, Watervliet, and Hagar students, and then the year after that, we added a backpack event for the Niles school district and the Brandywine school district,” Matheny said. “So each year, we’ve added a community area.”
The backpacks will be filled with pencils or pens, markers, notebooks, folders, erasers, and pencil bags. Each child will have the option to pick out which color bag they want. Matheny says Whirlpool has made the event possible with a generous donation. Students in the 49022 zip code are eligible, and the event will be held in the parking lot of the Whirlpool campus from 3 to 6 p.m. with COVID-19 protocols in place.
