BETHEL – Four-H members of the Telstar Leadership Team, Bethel 4-H and the Oxford Hills Respect Team put together school supplies and personal items for more than 160 backpacks for back to school.

The leadership teams started the project last year and put together 140 packs in 2006. The project for 2007 will include continuing to put together more packs through the fall. This year the project has been sponsored by a National 4-H Council, Cumberland Farms Youth in Action and a mini-grant from the Oxford Wal-Mart.

In addition, the teams partnered with 4-H and the local box project.

The teams hope to put together as many as 100 more backpacks for middle school and upper elementary school children. The packs are distributed through the local 4-H office of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and the school guidance offices.

The packs have been given out to date at Oxford Hills Middle, Telstar Middle and Mountain Valley Middle schools.

To qualify for the free backpacks, students need to be eligible for either free or reduced lunch. For more information, contact Susan Jennings, Extension educator, at 743-6329 or 1-800-287-1482.