Sending San Francisco’s Kids Back to School in Style

230 low-income children are headed back to school in style thanks to the generosity & support of the San Francisco community and our hard-working Free Clothing Program staff. This year, our youngest guests will be walking tall on the playground with brand new backpacks, shoes, school supplies, and outfits from our biggest Back to School Day ever.

To help these kids start the school year off right, our Free Clothing Program teamed up with a powerhouse group of mid-market tech companies & nonprofits to organize the largest back-to-school drive for low-income families in our 64-year history. Twitter, Zendesk, Dolby Laboratories, One Kings Lane, Intuit Demand Force, TJMaxx, and Old Navy are among the companies who either made large donations or adopted entire grades of students. In addition, nonprofit partners Family Giving Tree, My New Red Shoes, and the Golden Gate Mothers Group provided all of the backpacks, shoes, and Old Navy gift cards for families who may need additional clothes. Friends from Flipcause did face painting, and Sophie’s Stress Free Soirees made jewelry with kids and helped them pick out temporary tattoos.

St. Anthony’s Executive Director Barry Stenger expressed our gratitude to our community partners for their support: “In a time when tensions are running high in San Francisco between the haves and have-nots, we are fortunate to see the overwhelming generosity of people who are eager to make a difference for the poorest families in our community. St. Anthony’s is in a unique position to connect low-income children in San Francisco with a groundswell of support from donors around the Bay Area. In times like these, we see again and again that as a city, we are committed to taking care of each other. We extend a heartfelt thanks to all of the mid-market tech companies and our nonprofit partners for making this event possible.”

Our Free Clothing Program is the largest in San Francisco and serves over 8,500 men, women, and children every year. Visit our website to learn how you can help support San Franciscans in need.

-Check out photos from the event here. 

-Watch KTVU 2’s news coverage here.