LANSING - As the summer is nearing its end that means the start of the new school year is right around the corner. Many parents start getting school supplies ready for their kids to have them prepared for the year. Extra school supplies are being collected by St. Vincent Catholic Charities located in Lansing and their annual Operation Backpack drive.

Operation Backpack started 14 years ago when Mike Rogers was Congressman, he decided to come up with a campaign to collect backpacks to benefit the kids at St. Vincent Catholic Charities’ Children’s Home, a facility for children in the foster care system who experienced some sort of trauma or neglect. The campaign is now being sponsored by many local businesses to help those kids in need of supplies.

John Karasinski, Associate Director for Community Relations and Marketing at St. Vincent Catholic Charities shares what you can donate to Operation Backpack,

"The items that we look for donations of course are the new backpacks are the biggest thing, but school supplies as well to fill those backpacks. That could be anything from pens and pencils to notebooks and erasers, colored pencils, markers and calculators. Pretty much anything you could think of that your children might need are the same items that we're looking to fill the backpacks with for our kids at St. Vincent's. Our children range from 4-18, so we pack them for different age groups whether its elementary, middle school, or high school too."

Any school supplies that you may have left over or would like to donate, St. Vincent's Catholic Charities would be more than happy and will put a huge smile on a kids face as they will have what they need for the upcoming school year