20th Annual Backpack Challenge

As Fox & Roach/Trident Charities celebrates our milestone 30th Anniversary year, we continue to support youth across our communities through our Backpack Challenge. Now in its 20th year, the Annual Backpack Challenge has become an important tradition for BHHS Fox & Roach and The Trident Group. Since 2006 our sales professionals, employees, and management have donated the funds and physical supplies to purchase and fill more than 65,000 backpacks. These backpacks, valuing more than $915,750, go to unhoused and low-income children across Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Our commitment to the communities in which we live and work is the legacy of BHHS Fox & Roach/Trident.

Cradles to Crayons’ Ready for Learning initiative sets students up for success by providing learning essentials free of charge to 75,000 children in our market region. As more families face rising costs for basic necessities, families with school-aged children spent an average of $875 on back-to-school items in 2024.

• • Families will spend an average of $141 on non-electronic school supplies
  • Families will spend an average of $423 on clothing and footwear alone
  • In 2023 and 2024, more than 9 in 10 teachers reported using personal funds for classroom supplies, 78% spent over $100 on
  • supplies, and 35% spent between $200-$500.
  • 81% of teachers said they have at least one student who relies on them for food, hygiene items, and/or school supplies.
  • Three of the top 10 reasons children miss school are related to clothing insecurity and a lack of school supplies.

When a child doesn’t have the necessities to go to school, they fall behind. Cradles to Crayons RFL helps provide not only backpacks and supplies for the school-year, they also provide clothing that fits, books, hygiene items, weather-appropriate clothing and footwear throughout the year. These supplies are distributed through 180+ area social services agency partners, serving kids in the most vulnerable living situations. All donations will be directed back to the communities we serve (2024 recipients).

Your $20 donation will give a child a new, filled backpack to start the year and keep that backpack full with supplies for the entire school year. New backpacks and supplies give children a sense of pride and excitement to go back to school. With these tools, they are more likely to attend school and complete homework — knowing they have the same chance at school success as their peers. Please help us and the children across our communities get the much-needed necessities to return to the 2025-2026 school year!

Delaware Backpack-A-Thon: Tuesday, July 1 from 9:00-11:00AM at Chase Center on the Riverfront

Philadelphia Backpack-A-Thon: Thursday, August 14 from 9-11:30 at The Linc