Providing Resources and Essentials to Prepare Kids for School

Saturday, August 26, 2023 – our 8th annual event!

We want all kids to have a great start to the school year and reach their fullest potential!

Registration is required. Registration will open July 1, 2023.

  • We provide new sneakers, socks, underwear, and hygiene items (shampoo, soap, washcloth, toothbrush and toothpaste) for kids, a donated age-appropriate book, and community resource information for families.
  • The event serves kids from grades Pre-K to 12th grade from all school districts of Cortland County.
  • Preregistration is required. We prepare an individualized bag for each child with their specific size of sneakers, socks and underwear.
  • Items will be distributed at Homer Congregational Church on Saturday, August 26 from 9 am – 12 noon.
    • Children do not need to be present at time of pick up.
    • If transportation is an issue, a friend or family member can pick up on your behalf. However, due to the number of registrants and available volunteers, we are unable to deliver items to you. Please only register if you can reasonably plan to pick up the items.
    • For 2023, Homer Congregational Church commits to providing new sneakers, socks, underwear and hygiene items to the first 350 kids registered. After we have reached 350 registrations, we will close registration and may begin a waiting list.
    • Items are purchased specifically for the children registered to match their sizes. Failure to pick up items may forfeit your ability to register for the event in the future.
  • The Homer Food Pantry will also provide one bag of kid-friendly food staples (peanut butter, jelly, cereal, snacks) per family for the first approx. 125 families registered.

Foot Measuring for Sneaker Sizes

We want to help kids get the right size sneaker! You can visit a local shoe store to have your child’s foot measured – or you can do so at home. If you have the ability to print, you can use the sizing guide below. Or watch the video about how to measure your child’s foot for sneakers with just a piece of paper and a ruler.

Printable Sizing Guide
Sizing Video

Registration

We have reached 350 registrations for 2023 and an additional 100 children on a waiting list. We apologize, but we have closed all registration at this time.

Sponsor a Child

To sponsor a child, we ask that you commit to purchasing a new pair of sneakers, a new pack of underwear, and a new pack of socks. Sponsors will receive by email or phone the child(ren)’s age, grade, shoe size, underwear size and favorite color.

We ask that you return purchased items to the church by Saturday, August 19.

You can drop off items at Homer Congregational Church during weekly office hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 am – 12 pm. Additionally, you can drop off items items at the church on either Saturday, Aug. 5 or Saturday, Aug. 19 from 9-11 am. If you need to make alternate arrangements to drop off items, email [email protected].

When dropping off items, please put items for one child in each bag and label each bag with your first/last name and age/gender/grade of child. This will help us match up the items to the correct child.

Thank you for your support!

Sign up to be a sponsor

Donate

Want to support PREP with a financial donation – and let us buy the items? Checks, payable to Homer Congregational Church, can be mailed with “Back to School PREP” in the memo line. Or donate online via Tithely and in the notes section, indicate “Back to School PREP.” Thank you for your support!

Donate

2023 Event Sponsors