Hundreds of Capital Region Children to Receive Free Backpacks, School Supplies from Whitney Young Health

Whitney Young Health and Fidelis Care hosted two free school supplies readiness events for Capital Region children in need this week. The events took place on August 22nd at our Troy Health Center and on August 24th at our Albany Health Center.

The events was open to all Capital Region families. Fidelis invited about 500 children who are in need of a physical or important vaccinations for them to be ready to attend school. WYH had pediatric providers on-site to see patients immediately or to schedule appointments for a later date.

This is the third year Fidelis hosted a school supplies giveaway. Over 800 backpacks were given out between the two events, as well as hundreds of writing utensils, notebooks and more, which were donated from generous individuals in the community.

Community organizations such as, Capital Roots, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Albany County attended to pass out information while the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office had their Child ID program in place, giving out free child IDs to families.