How inflation is impacting back-to-school giveaways in Hampton Roads

Air Force Sgt. Jerred Lute made the trek from Hampton to Norfolk Saturday morning for Operation Homefront’s drive-thru school supply giveaway with three of his four children. In the back seat was his 11-year-old daughter, Makenna, who pointed out a teal green backpack she wanted from the pile on the curb.

“Going back to school with four kids is an expensive thing under ordinary circumstances. We need four sets of everything,” Lute said with a chuckle.

As surging inflation squeezes family budgets, local organizations are preparing to offer a helping hand — and free school supplies — to Hampton Roads families burdened by back-to-school expenses.

Scores of backpack and school supply giveaways are planned in the coming weeks across the region. While such giveaways are typical close to the start of the school year, several groups say events will be bigger than years past as the need for financial relief grows.

Operation Homefront, a nonprofit that provides assistance to military families, gave away backpacks full of school supplies to 650 children from around 300 families during its event at Norfolk Premium Outlets — more than it’s ever distributed.

“Our registration fills in a flash and then we have a waitlist that this year just topped out,” said Vivian Dietrich, the group’s regional director. “Usually we are between 300 and 600 backpacks given away, but honestly, this year’s 650 is just scratching the surface.”

The rising cost of clothing, food, fuel and housing, coupled with the end of COVID-era assistance, has left less room this year in family budgets for school supplies, according to Robert McNab, director of Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy.

“When we couple these price increases with the higher costs of fuel, you can see that schools and parents are going to face hard choices as school starts back up,” McNab said.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, consumer prices rose 9.1% over the past 12 months, the largest annual jump since 1981. The biggest contributors were food, fuel and housing.

Operation Homefront partnered with Walmart to give away backpacks, school supplies and snacks valued up to $100 each. The Urban League of Hampton Roads, which will hold its Back to School Bash giveaway on Aug. 17, also joins with Walmart for the expected distribution of 600 backpacks.

“Many families have three, four or five children. That adds up quickly. Each bag is a significant saving,” Dietrich said. “And we are not even talking about the clothing that it takes to send a child back to school — it is very costly.”

To meet the increasing need, one local organization expanded its operations to neighboring cities. Typically held at its Hampton location, Bacon Street Youth and Family Services will give out backpacks stuffed with school supplies for K-12 students Aug. 18 at its Williamsburg and Gloucester offices. The group plans to give out 100 backpacks at each location.

“Many families are facing greater financial strains now that assistance programs established during COVID have become more limited or have been eliminated,” said Crystal Booker, spokesperson for Bacon Street Youth and Family Services. “Inflation has further hurt families and made budgets stretch less than they traditionally have.”

As families juggle rising inflation rates, they also face the end of pandemic-era eviction protections and free school lunch programs.

“Even without rising housing costs, this would be a challenging environment for many parents. As housing costs continue to rise, especially for rental housing, families are facing harder choices on where to spend their money and where to save it,” McNab said.

Lute said his family, who just returned from a three-year deployment to England, is not only burdened by back-to-school expenses and inflation, but the daunting task of rebuilding and adjusting to life back in the United States.

“We have to get set up here. We have to buy a car. And with prices now, what it will cost to feed my family — we don’t even know what our monthly budget is going to look like, so it is hard to prepare for,” Lute said, adding that his family has cut down on spending in other areas and that his wife got a job at a Hampton school to help cover expenses.

Collecting school supply donations has also proven to be more of struggle this year as a result of rising costs, said Timiko Blackman Winn, director of Portsmouth-based Complete the Puzzle, an autism awareness group that assists families of children with disabilities.

“When prices go up, donations go down,” Winn said.

Complete the Puzzle, which held its first giveaway in 2019, distributed more than 260 backpacks in 2021. The organization had a goal of collecting 500 supply-filled backpacks for this year’s event, but fell short, only collecting around 300.

“And most of that was from money raised by our autism awareness T-shirt drive in April,” Winn said.

The T-shirt fundraiser generated roughly $2,500, which has been used to purchase the bulk of the backpacks Complete the Puzzle will be giving out Aug. 27 at the Portsmouth City Park. The event is open to all Hampton Roads families.

“It is sad because when the backpacks and supplies are gone, they are gone,” Winn said. “Families in need keep coming but we have nothing left to give.”

Caitlyn Burchett, 727-267-6059, caitlyn.burchett@virginiamedia.com