Did you know that there are many ways to get free school supplies for your kids? Like everything else, the price of school supplies has risen dramatically over the past few years
If you’re on a tight budget, or if you need to because of some event in your life, use the ideas here to help ease the financial burden of buying back-to-school supplies.
How to Get Free School Supplies
The National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Back-to-School Cost Survey this year shows that the average family plans to spend just over $890 on back-to-school costs this year.
900 is no small amount, especially with the rising costs of food, energy and transportation.
To help minimize the impact of back-to-school on your budget, we’ve listed 10 ways to get free school supplies.
Utilize one or more of these options to help your family prepare for back-to-school with things like notebooks, writing utensils, backpacks, and more.
While you’re trying to get free school supplies, check out these other tips to help you save money.
- Contact your school district office
Local school district offices often keep up with organizations that offer free school supplies.
Contact your school district’s office administrator or contact your child’s teacher directly to learn more about where you can get free school supplies.
In fact, depending on where you live, you may be able to find some free school supply drives in your area.
You may find local nonprofits, shopping centers and more places that host events where kids can get free supplies, haircuts, backpacks and more.
When organizations host these types of events, the local school district is usually the first place they contact so school officials can spread the word.
Communicate with school officials to get information about free school supply drives and then pass the word along by sharing the information with other families in need.
- Reach out to local churches
Local churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious organizations often hold back-to-school events to collect donations from parishioners and the public.
At these events, they will collect book bags, paper, pencils, crayons, rulers and other items to give to those in need.
They will then donate the collected supplies directly to those in need in the community. Or they may donate to organizations like the Salvation Army, which distributes free school supplies.
They may even donate directly to the school district, which then redistributes the supplies.
Contact local religious organizations near you to see if they are hosting a school supply drive and if so, where they send the donations.
If they are not hosting one, see if they know of a religious organization that might host a drive. Another option:Post a question on your community Facebook page asking if anyone knows of any religious or other organizations that are running school supply drives.
- Talk to the Kids in Need Foundation
The Kids in Need Foundation (KINF) was founded to “create equitable learning environments for teachers and students in underserved communities”.
The foundation’s purpose is so effective that a donation of just $1 can provide Kids in Need with $24 in teacher and student supplies.
The Children in Need Foundation partners with local organizations and businesses to assemble “backpacks” for students in eligible communities.
The Foundation provides the supplies and community members come together to create backpacks filled with all the necessary supplies for the students.
You can contact the Children in Need Foundation to see if they offer any programs in your area. If they don’t, you can contact your school officials and have them contact the Children in Need Foundation.
From there, your child’s school can begin to see if the district is eligible to participate in Build a Backpack or other Kids in Need programs that provide school supplies to students in your area.
Another benefit of the organization is that they have a Teacher Resource Center where teachers in qualifying school districts can get free classroom supplies.
This is a literally store-like setup where teachers can purchase free supplies that are displayed in an organized and attractive way.
- Contact the Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a charitable organization that helps communities in natural disasters, provides humanitarian aid, and more.
Every summer, the Salvation Army collects and distributes free school supplies nationwide.
You can buy individual school supplies or backpacks filled with supplies. Contact the Salvation Army through the link above.
Enter your zip code to get information on ways the Salvation Army can help your community. Then click on the relevant option to get another list.
The second list will show you the many places the Salvation Army works with, such as community centers and churches.
There you can find activities such as school supply drives. If you are having trouble finding an event, call Salvation Army customer service and ask for help.
A Salvation Army customer service representative should be able to tell you where to go to see if free supplies are available in your area.
- Take advantage of the military
Are you a military family? If so, you can get free school supplies by participating in Operation Homefront’s Back to School Brigade.
The Back to School Brigade is an event that distributes school supplies to eligible military families.
If you qualify for this program, you can get everything from pencils to backpacks.
Each year, volunteers from around the world organize this event with partner stores like Dollar Tree.
If you are an eligible military family (DEERS enrolled, child between grades k-12), please contact Operation Frontline.
A customer service representative there will walk you through the registration process, as you must be registered to receive free school supplies.
Additionally, this is a first-come, first-served program and supplies are limited. For this reason, you’ll want to sign up early!
Note:Whether you are in the military or not, you may also want to consider getting involved in organizing this annual program.
Helping with this program is a great way to say “thank you” to our military for their service.
- Contact Boys & Girls Clubs of America
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America was founded in 1860 to help kids find positive ways to spend their time.
Today, this non-profit organization has grown to include several programs such as mentoring programs and more: the
Character and leadership programs
Health and wellness programs
Art programs
Workforce preparation programs
Sports and recreation programs
Boys & Girls Clubs of America also offers educational programs, including school supply drives.
Local chapters of Boys & Girls Clubs of America often collect school supplies and give them to families in need.
Contact your local chapter to learn more about school supply giveaways and to get on the recipient list.
You can find contact information for your local chapter by clicking on the link above and searching by city, zip code or address.
- Reach out to the United Way
Since 1887, United Way has been committed to helping people and communities in need. In fact, you can even partner with United Way at work by donating a portion of your paycheck to the organization.
United Way helps communities and families in many ways. For decades, the organization has coordinated back-to-school supply drives.
Contact your local United Way chapter to see if there is a back-to-school supply drive near you.
Local United Way chapters often partner with community centers, churches or other organizations to sponsor school supply drives.
If your local United Way chapter does not have a school supply drive, or if there is no local United Way chapter in your area, consider partnering with United Way.
The charity has a page on their website where you can contact United Way to organize a school supply drive in the United Way’s name.
Many members of the community have already taken the lead and partnered with United Way to start a school supply drive if one doesn’t already exist in the area.
This way you can do a good deed and get your child’s school supplies for free.
- Contacting community centers
Is there a community center near your home? Neighborhood community centers are another place to ask about free school supplies. Community centers exist to encourage community members to meet in healthy ways.
At your local community center, you may find a variety of activities, such as exercise or art classes.
You may also find events such as movie nights, music nights, or farmers’ markets. In addition, community centers often have back-to-school supply drives where they ask people to donate a variety of supplies.
At the same time, they collect a list of people who need free school supplies so they know what they want to collect and how much.
If you don’t know of any community centers near you, then search online and see if you can find one.
Then search the community center’s events page or calendar page to find out about specific events, such as back-to-school supply drives.
- Organize your own school supply drive
If you can’t find a back-to-school supply drive at a community center or nearby location, why not organize your own?
Contact social media community pages and announce your plans to collect donations for back-to-school supplies.
Tell people what to donate and where to bring the money, and invite others to join your organization. Also, encourage those in need to get on the list for free school supplies so you know how many items you need to collect.
Choose a date for volunteers to organize donations and for recipients to pick up their donations.
Don’t worry if you haven’t organized anything like this before. Just take it day by day and deal with obstacles as they come up.
Most importantly, don’t be discouraged if your first drive is on the small side. Consider making it an annual event and watch it grow each year.
- look online
If all else fails – and even if it doesn’t – it doesn’t hurt to see if you can find free school supplies on Facebook, Craigslist, or similar sites.
Sites like Eventbrite list local back-to-school events that offer free supplies.
Parents and teachers who purge and organize often find notebooks, backpacks, pencils, and other things they no longer need or use.
Or they may just have too much stuff for their needs. Check out the “free” sections of popular buy and sell websites, or post a thread yourself asking if anyone has school supplies they’d like to get rid of.
Browse your own supply so you know exactly what you need before you post. People will find it easier to accommodate you if they know what type of school supplies you need.
Therefore, it’s important to be specific and ask for pencils, notebooks, or anything else your child might need.
Another idea: Look for community “buy nothing” pages on Facebook and ask them for the school supplies you need. You never know what other community members might want to clean out of their houses.
Interested in getting more free stuff? Check out our article on how to get free stuff online. You’ll learn how to get tons of free stuff, from beauty products to baby supplies.
To summarize.
There are plenty of ways to get free school supplies if you’re willing to look around. Use the tips above to find everything your kids need that doesn’t cost you anything.
Having school supplies will allow children to be engaged in the learning process. They are more than just tools. They are great tools for children’s learning, self-expression, and personal growth.
