Brooklyn's Backpack Drive Supports The Salvation Army's Back-to-School Efforts

The Salvation Army teams up with Brooklyn's Backpack Drive to bring school supplies to students in need all over the Kansas City Metro.

This past May, The Salvation Army held its annual Civic Breakfast event, where we gathered with our corporate partners in the Kansas City community at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. We celebrated the work that The Salvation Army has been able to accomplish this year through our generous partners, donors, and volunteers. During the breakfast, Brooklyn Stewart was presented with The William Booth Award. This award is the highest honor The Salvation Army bestows on an individual who has made a large impact in the community.

Brooklyn Stewart founded Brooklyn’s Backpack Drive when she was 5 years old. With a strong desire to help those in need in her community, Brooklyn and her mom set out to start a service project that would allow Brooklyn, as a 5-year-old, to see and understand the impact she was making. For a kid who loved shopping for school supplies, what better way to do that than by providing school supplies for children in need around the Kansas City area?

The drive quickly grew year after year, and 11 years later, Brooklyn’s Backpack Drive has provided thousands of backpacks filled with school supplies to students around the Kansas City metro. Brooklyn, who is now 17, has no plans to slow down and wants to continue to see Brooklyn’s Backpack grow and expand into more cities.

This August, Brooklyn held her annual fundraising event at Crow’s Coffee in Waldo to gear up for providing school supplies for the 2025 school year. Once the funds are in place, Brooklyn will go to Walmart with her mom to purchase the school supplies and stuff the backpacks. After this, The Salvation Army will receive a large donation of backpacks from Brooklyn, which will then be dispersed to our corps community centers around the Kansas City metro.

It’s because of the efforts of Brooklyn and our corps community centers’ Back-to-School drives that we are able to give hope to students throughout the community. If you wish to support The Salvation Army and Brooklyn’s Backpack Drive’s mission to make sure no child in the metro is without school supplies, consider making a donation.

Here’s to a great school year!