Love INC puts heart, effort into backpack giveaway

Weiser schools are gearing up for the 2024-25 school year, which starts in just a couple of weeks, but there will be kids who don’t have school supplies.

 There is an organization in Weiser, however, dedicated to making sure every kiddo has exactly what they need.

 Love INC (In the Name of Christ) comprises a partnership of Washington County churches that serve those in need within the communities of Annex, Weiser, Midvale and Cambridge.

 One of the organization’s biggest programs is the annual Backpack Giveaway that takes place on Saturday, Aug. 10 at the Weiser Church of the Nazarene from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

 “The program was started by Marylou Morris 14 years ago,” explained Love INC Executive Director Pam Burris. “She was a volunteer here and her husband George used to be the principal at Pioneer Elementary School. She just has a realheart for kids. While she was going to garage sales, she kept seeing backpacks and that’s what gave her the idea that she should get backpacks, fill them with school supplies and give them to kids in need.”

 Morris, who previously worked as an elementary school teacher, joined the program right away and has been organizing it ever since. That first year, Love INC distributed about 50 backpacks with the goal of one day breaking a hundred.

 Last year they distributed 279. This year, as of July 30, 233 had signed up to receive one.

 Those wanting to get backpacks normally register at Love INC, located at 722 W. Idaho St. This year, for the first time, request forms were also available online at loveincwashingtoncounty.org. 

 Registration for the Aug. 10 giveaway ended Aug. 5, but Burris said kids can still get backpacks.

 “There are kids that show up at school without the supplies they need,” she said. “Teachers or the school secretaries will contact us and we still get supplies to those kids. It’s actually something we do year-round. We have one big giveaway on the 10th, but it’s something we can supply kids all year. We are not going to turn them away.”

 Setting Love INC’s program apart from others is the fact that every backpack contains supplies based on specific school supply lists.

 “One thing that makes our school supply drive special is that we tailor each backpack to exactly what the student’s teacher has requested,” Burris said. “Our program is for Annex and all Washington County schools, so we get supply lists from all of those schools and fill the backpacks based on those lists. For example, if you tell me you have a first grader attending Pioneer School, we grab the first-grade list and fill it exactly to that specification. It’s not a generic backpack with some pencils and paper. It has everything on the list, like headphones, earbuds, disinfecting wipes, everything.”

 Burris noted that it takes about 15 volunteers and Love INC staff to get the job done.

 “So, the registration cutoff for this year was Aug. 5 with distribution on Aug. 10,” she said. “We need that week to make sure we have all the supplies we need and are able to put everything together. We start collecting our lists in April, before school gets out, and spend the whole month of July getting the supplies.”

 Burris said display boards are put up at various locations throughout the community, such as the Weiser Library and local stores, where people can adopt a backpack.

 “They can take a tag and it might say, ‘Kindergarten-Annex,’ and on the back of the tag is the supply list,” she explained. 

 Love INC’s network of churches also support the cause as well as individual monetary donations.

 “We do huge shopping trips,” Burris said. “We go through Amazon, Staples or Walmart, whoever has the best price on the supplies we need.”

 Last year, the organization spent $4,333 on supplies.

 Burris said there is more involved in running their particular program but that it shows they care about each and every student.

 “We don’t want to do something halfway,” she said. “We strive for excellence because we feel when we do that, it shows our neighbors how much we value them.”