Along with the Ross Medical Education Center campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, students and staff at the Ross campus in Brighton decided to join in the effort to help Flint students and their families. This campus also came together to support the organization Pack Your Back. They hosted a drive at the campus and collected much needed school supplies for families in need due to the Flint water crisis.
Started in 2016, Pack Your Back is a nonprofit organization that students came up with to help those in need. In any struggling economy, school supplies and the costs associated will usually take a back seat to more important needs like food, water, and heat. The students began to reach out into the community and they have been overwhelmed with people wanting to help. However, they know that everyone will have to work together to meet the need.
In looking to meet needs, the students also saw the financial burden and hardships faced by families in Flint because of the collapse of the economy and the subsequent water crisis. This caused the health of children in Flint to be of primary concern, and the financial demands placed on families due to it has created even more difficulty in making sure that students are prepared for a new school year. That’s why their goal is to donate over 500 backpacks to those Flint students this year, filled with supplies to help them be as successful as possible in the classroom.
To that end, the students, faculty, and staff of the Ross Brighton campus have been bringing in supplies during the month of August. The campus collected a number of notebooks, pencils, markers, and other school supply necessities. Those supplies will be used to fill backpacks for Flint students and then distributed by Pack Your Back and a variety of other nonprofit organizations in the community during a fun event featuring live entertainment, arts and crafts, and more.
If you are interested in learning more about how you can help, visit the Pack Your Back Facebook page, check out their website at www.packyourback.org, or send an email to info@packyourback.org.