Preparations underway for backpack giveaway

LEE COUNTY, Fla. – Volunteers are gearing up for one of Southwest Florida’s biggest back to school events.

The 16th annual backpack giveaway hosted by the Multicultural Centre of Southwest Florida kicks off this weekend.

Volunteers are loading up cars with things like colored pencils, crayons and notebooks. All the school supplies will go to kids and families in Lee County who need it.

Inside the boxes, there were about 26,000 school supply items. Anything a family could need to get their kids ready for school will be donated to them.

The giveaway is Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Harborside Event Center in downtown Fort Myers. The first 2,000 students in line ages five to 12 will get a free backpack and school supplies.

This year, WINK News teamed up with the Multicultural Centre to make sure every child is ready for school.