Bartlett seniors fill backpacks with school supplies for Hanover Township students in need

With the next school year rapidly approaching, residents of Bartlett’s Hearthwood Senior Living this week filled 100 backpacks with $2,500 worth of school supplies for local students in need of the assistance.

The community-specific drive was in support of Hanover Township’s wider effort to collect and distribute such supplies for the school district.

The Hearthwood group consisted of more than 50 residents, including 18 retired teachers and principals, who together amassed more than 500 years of experience in the field of education. Their 100 backpacks will contain letters to the students offering words of wisdom from the classroom retirees.

“The backpack project is one of the many Hearthwood activities that helps us actively participate in community life,” resident Robert Otis said. “It brings back memories of freshly scrubbed first graders on their first day of school. And the shy little guy who put an apple on my desk and whispered, ‘My mommy said to give you this.’”

Under the banner of “Hearthwood Helps,” the residents are involved in various projects throughout the year that give back to the broader Bartlett community to fulfill a commitment to intergenerational connection and making a local impact, organizers said.

This particular one connects with the township’s back-to-school project that last year resulted in the donation of 2,552 backpacks stuffed with school supplies.

This year’s distribution will take place from Wednesday, Aug. 6, through Friday, Aug. 8, at the Astor Avenue Community Center, 7431 Astor Ave. in Hanover Park.

The program is open to Hanover Township residents with children in grades K-8. Families can register at hanover-township.org. Proof of residency is required, with a limit of one backpack per child.