Sutter Health’s Operation Backpack Assists Students

Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital helps provides students with needed school supplies

Auburn, Calif.-  As students start to return back to school, not every child has the basic supplies they need. As part of Sutter Health’s partnership with Operation Backpack, Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital donated more than 80 backpacks full of school supplies to help local students start the school year off with the supplies they wouldn’t otherwise have.

Operation Backpack, a yearly campaign organized by the Volunteers of America, delivers backpacks, collected for students from pre-kindergarten through 12 grade, to homeless and at-risk children in our communities.

The hospital collected the backpacks and school supplies for two weeks in July as part of Sutter Health’s Operation Backpack campaign and the materials were distributed locally last week.

“Year after year, our staff show tremendous generosity by providing backpacks and back-to-school materials during this annual drive,” said Mitch Hanna, Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital CEO. “Together, we are helping children learn and thrive in school, stay in school and build a bright future.”

As a system, Sutter Health donated nearly 2,000 backpacks this year and has sponsored the program for the last seven years helping to ensure as many children as possible get the tools they need for the start of school.

“Volunteers of America is blessed to have a partner like Sutter Health,” said Ana Bankert, community relations manager at Volunteers of America Northern California. “The Operation Backpack Campaign is successful thanks to the generosity of Sutter Health staff who dedicate countless hours and resources year after year.”

For more information about Operation Backpack or to get involved, visit http://voa-ncnn.org.