LEWISTON — Nearly 700 children will start the 2016-17 school year off on the right foot thanks to United Way of Androscoggin County’s 12th annual Backpack Project. The program unites local sponsors, businesses and community members in an effort to ensure children board the bus and enter the classroom prepared for the upcoming year.

The Backpack Project highlights a growing need as 24 percent of Androscoggin County’s children live in poverty, spotlighting how local communities come together to support struggling families.

Larry Marcoux, director of Community Impact for United Way, said one of his favorite memories was the look on a boy’s face when he handed him a backpack full of everything on the boy’s school supply list for sixth grade. 

“We support the backpack program in part because our focus is the children and the elderly of our community,” said Don Fournier, president of the Auburn-Lewiston Rotary Breakfast Club. “This project brings smiling faces to the children of our community and provides some of the necessary tools for their education.”

In addition to funding and school supplies donated directly to United Way, members of Uplift LA joined the effort again this year. The young group of professionals collected school supplies during August’s Business After Hours, sponsored by Lewiston Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. The group collected enough bags, boxes, bins and backpacks filled with school supplies to fill two cars.

FMI: 207-795-4000, www.unitedwayandro.org.