{"id":358230,"date":"2026-07-31T00:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T00:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358230\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T00:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T00:05:10","slug":"hillsboroughs-back-2-school-bash-to-give-away-thousands-of-free-backpacks-supplies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358230\/","title":{"rendered":"Hillsborough’s Back 2 School Bash to give away thousands of free backpacks, supplies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ECHO's \"ECHO's ECHO’s Back 2 School Bash<\/a> <\/p>\n

Volunteers are assembly-lining thousands of free back-to-school backpacks at the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds to help local families prepare for the upcoming school year. FOX 13’s Mark Wilson reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DOVER, Fla. – Volunteers are assembly-lining thousands of free back-to-school backpacks at the Hillsborough County<\/a> Fairgrounds to help local families prepare for the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n

Hillsborough County school supply drive <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

Volunteers from the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) helped organize the backpack packing this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Our biggest aim is to help parents,” ECHO volunteer coordinator Debbie Smith said. “We know that times are tough for a lot of people right now.”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Several community sponsors, a mix of local businesses, nonprofits and churches, donated and funded the school supplies. Teams from AdventHealth, two Scout troops and local residents joined ECHO volunteers to fill the bags Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back 2 School Bash schedule <\/p>\n

What you can do:<\/p>\n

Families can pick up backpacks at the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds this Saturday at the second annual Back 2 School Bash from 9 a.m. to noon. Any student 5 to 18 years old is eligible to receive a bag. Parents need to bring a valid ID.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Families can also visit 100 community vendors focused on family resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Filling the need <\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

Riverview volunteer Andria Murray worked alongside her son to fulfill his Bright Futures service hours.<\/p>\n

“It makes you feel good to give back to people who don’t have the opportunity or the funds to get all this stuff,” Murray said. “Back-to-school supplies can add up really quickly.”<\/p>\n

ECHO volunteer Doug Butler has been volunteering for nine years. He’s seen the cost and pressure of back-to-school season firsthand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is something that has always been dear to my heart. My mother was a teacher, and I grew up in a household with a teacher as a single parent,” Butler said. “It’s a good event to help kids get a solid start in school.”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Despite the large number of backpacks packed this week, volunteers are encouraging the community to continue helping out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Everyone in the community needs to pitch in,” Murray said. “We’ve got tons of supplies, but there will be supplies that we don’t have enough of, so the more help that everybody can give, the better.”<\/p>\n

For more information about the event, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Source: The information in this story was gathered from Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) volunteer interviews and official Back 2 School Bash event details.<\/p>\n

What’s Right with Tampa Bay<\/a>Hillsborough County<\/a>Education<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ECHO’s Back 2 School Bash Volunteers are assembly-lining thousands of free back-to-school backpacks at the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[113,47,629,115,405,135,137,136,628,3970],"class_list":["post-358230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-education","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","tag-news","tag-series","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us","tag-whats-right-with-tampa-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}