More than 1,000 kids in Westchester will head back to school ready to learn, thanks to some local volunteers.

Over 100 volunteers gathered at the Sharing Shelf in Port Chester today in their quest to fill up 1,100 backpacks for kids from more than 30 school districts..

The backpacks are loaded with everything from notebooks, binders and folders to pencils, erasers, index cards, protractors and calculators.  

Once the backpacks are full, social workers will put each individual child’s name on the backpack and then hand-deliver the supplies on the first day of school.

Many of the volunteers come from local companies such as SwissRe, Regeneron, AIA (American Institute of Architects), Hitachi and Dechert LLP.  Not only do they give their time but have donated funds to purchase all of the supplies.

The “Backpacks to School” initiative by the Sharing Shelf, a program of Family Services of Westchester, helps low-income children across the county.