{"id":262929,"date":"2026-08-10T23:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T23:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/262929\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T23:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T23:56:10","slug":"volunteers-in-philadelphia-prepare-personalized-backpacks-for-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/262929\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers in Philadelphia prepare personalized backpacks for children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Volunteers in Philadelphia prepare personalized backpacks for children and families facing cancer<\/p>\n

\"Lori<\/a><\/p>\n

As the school year approaches, volunteers in Philadelphia are creating nearly 500 personalized backpacks filled with school supplies to help children in families dealing with a cancer diagnosis. <\/p>\n

“We’ll get some crayons, make sure they have enough pencils. By providing this for them and making sure that it’s just as they would have done it, it really makes a difference, takes the stress off,” said Mary Ellen Fitzgerald, executive director of the Breathing Room Foundation. <\/p>\n

\"Image\"ImageSupporting families navigating cancer<\/p>\n

The Breathing Room Foundation provides hands-on, compassionate support to families navigating cancer diagnoses. “We step in when the family is overwhelmed with the everyday tasks. We’re able to be flexible in the support that we give, whether it’s financial support to pay a bill, whether it’s home-cooked meals, yard work, treatment, whatever it might be,” Fitzgerald said. <\/p>\n

Caring for children helps the entire family<\/p>\n

The foundation also focuses on children’s programs, recognizing the impact on families.<\/p>\n

“We provide a lot of children’s programs because we know firsthand when you take care of the children, the parents also feel taken care of,” Fitzgerald said. <\/p>\n

Nearly 500 personalized backpacks<\/p>\n

The back-to-school program is a key initiative, providing backpacks filled with personalized supplies to nearly 500 children. “Not only do we provide the backpacks filled with the supplies, but everything is personalized just like everything Breathing Room does. We listen to what the child needs, their favorite character for their backpack, whatever it is, so that when they get that backpack, it’s made specifically for that child,” Fitzgerald said. <\/p>\n

Volunteers make the program possible<\/p>\n

She emphasized the importance of volunteers in making the program possible. “We’re making about 500 of these backpacks, so you can imagine how important it is that we have volunteers. It could be the smallest gesture, but because we’re coming to the kids not only receiving the support that they need, but they’re feeling the compassion. Yeah, I don’t know what we would do without you guys,” Fitzgerald said.<\/p>\n

You can learn more about the program at breathingroomfoundation.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Volunteers in Philadelphia prepare personalized backpacks for children and families facing cancer As the school year approaches, volunteers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[111125,44072,111128,111126,111129,111127,69,71,70,60355,111130],"class_list":["post-262929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-500-personalized-backpacks","tag-back-to-school","tag-back-to-school-program","tag-breathing-room-foundation","tag-families-facing-cancer","tag-mary-ellen-fitzgerald","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-school-supplies","tag-volunteers-in-philadelphia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}