October, 2003

      This past summer, the Anne Arundel County Bar Association (AACBA) introduced its Knapsack Program, a community service program dedicated to providing disadvantaged children with free school supplies. The program was a resounding success, exceeding expectations by raising over $4000. Working in cooperation with Office Depot in Annapolis, AACBA was able to provide 500 backpacks full of school supplies to children in Anne Arundel County.
 
     AACBA Past President Kevin Schaeffer spearheaded the development of the program in an effort to target Anne Arundel County’s growing Latino and immigrant populations. “The Hispanic community in Anne Arundel County is growing, and the social services set up to serve them are not growing at the same pace,” explains AACBA Executive Director Frances Czajka.

     AACBA worked initially with the Centro de Ayuda (Center for Help), an after-school program in Annapolis, to distribute the backpacks. The Knapsack Program, however, raised much more money than expected, and AACBA had to go directly to many area schools to finish distributing all of the backpacks. “It actually went better than expected,” says Kevin Schaeffer. “Annapolis Office Depot was able to give us more than originally planned.”

     In mid-August, late in the drive, Office Depot received an unexpected shipment of donated backpacks, which went into the program. But even without this batch, AACBA raised over $4,000 from its members. “The generosity of the Bar Association was really exceptional,” says Schaeffer. “We had been targeting significantly less than we received.”

     For a donation of $25, AACBA members would sponsor one backpack for one child. Included with the backpack were a number of school supplies, including notebooks, pens, binders and calculators. “It’s a nice package,” says Schaeffer. “They’ll go in well-prepared for the beginning of the year.”

     "As the president, I contacted people personally and asked them to contribute, rather than just putting a flyer in the local magazine,” adds Schaeffer. “I contacted people by phone or by letter and extolled the kind of thing we were trying to do, and I got a great response from a lot of people.”

     The Knapsack Program is not AACBA’s first public service venture; every Thanksgiving the Bar Association raises contributions to provide Thanksgiving dinners for area residents unable to afford them. Like the Thanksgiving drives, the Knapsack Program may become an annual event.

     “I was expecting a lesser response to this because it was the first time we’d done something like this,” says Schaeffer. “I was actually thinking if we could do 160 to 180 backpacks, then that would be a nice start, and we obviously far exceeded that.”

 

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