While the process normally takes about two days, organizers say they had so many helpers turn out today the packing the backpacks only took a couple of hours.
As many as 1600 backpacks are being donated to students this year, from kindergarten to college.
Good Neighbours Coodinator Mary Symons says it’s all thanks to the Chatham-Kent community.
“The community has been fantastic. They stepped right up, and we believe we’ve been 
able to fill the need”, Symons says.
Since its inception in 2001, the Operation Backpack program has given assistance to more than 10,000 families in Chatham-Kent. Last year, the program donated more than 1300 backpacks.
