Back to School Drive & Distribution Event
What is the Back to School Bonanza?
The COTS Back to School Bonanza is a free kid-centric community event where any Vermont student in need can come get ready for a successful school year in a dignified, stress-free, and fun environment. The goal is to foster confidence through picking out school supplies and a backpack, choosing first day of school outfits, getting a haircut, and so much more. It is set up like a carnival so that students can have fun while they get ready for a successful school year!
2025 Event:
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Thank you for your support!
Children are often the unseen faces of homelessness, but they make up a large portion of people experiencing homelessness. In the 2022- 2023 school year, 1,620 students enrolled in VT public schools were homeless (State of VT Agency of Education/EHCY Program). In one night in 2024, 1,125 people experiencing homelessness had children in the household (2024 PIT count).
In 2015, COTS started the Back to School Drive to bring awareness to the children in our community experiencing homelessness, and to help them get the supplies they need to be successful in school. Each year since, the community helps us fill hundreds of backpacks with thousands of school supplies for us to distribute to families in shelters, motels, and to our nonprofit partners in the community who directly serve children.
In 2022 we wanted to serve students who are not necessarily connected to a service provider. We wanted to set them up for a successful year, both physically and emotionally. We wanted to maintain dignity. At a time in some of their lives where there isn’t a lot of choice, our goal was to let students be able to choose their own school supplies, pick out some clothing that starts them off on the right foot, and get haircuts to alleviate some of those first day jitters. The Back to School Bonanza was born. A free community event where any Vermont students, grades K-12, who are in need can come de-stress and have fun while they pick out school supplies and a backpack as well as first day of school outfits.
This year, the fourth year running, with your help we were able to provide hundreds of students with new backpacks and school supplies in a fun environment. Each student received a great abundance of supplies and a backpack to feel set for the school year.
On top of the hundreds of school supplies and backpacks, we provided scores of first day of school outfits, thousands of jumps on the bounce house, heaps of The Scoop ice cream cones, loads of blue snow cone smiles, several haircuts, a magnitude of magical WOW’s, tons of tacos, plenty of of family portraits, and even more. There were also many connections to community partners made. Fern Lab, Girls on the Run, Girl Scouts, green mountain Habitat for Humanity, Howard Center, Lund, NAMI, Office of Child Support, and STEPS joined us.
Thank you to our sponsors: Katie’s Kids Foundation and Northfield Savings Bank. Thank you to our 60 volunteers who made this event possible, and our amazing COTS staff. Thank you to our community of supporters! We couldn’t do it without you!