89 BACKPACKS FILLED WITH SCHOOL SUPPLIES DONATED

Laurie Scolari, from San Francisco and her colleagues, friends and family donated 89 brand new backpacks filled with school supplies for the children displaced from Hurricane Katrina. It all started with Laurie bought 20 backpacks and asked her co-workers at University of California, Santa Cruz to "sponser a backpack" by filling them with new school supplies, toys and gifts. In order to get her friends involved, she held a BBQ at her house on Sunday Sept 11 and urged friends to bring backpacks in exchange for beer. Friends who could not attend the BBQ shipped backpacks and mailed money. Backpacks came from San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro, Hayward, Sacramento, Santa Cruz and Soledad. In collaboration with Operation Ryan's Hope, the backpacks will be shipped to Baton Rouge and Slidell, Lousiana.