NEW ULM — School bells seem like a long way off but United Way of Brown County is already working to help families get their kids’ backpacks filled for school. It takes a lot of money to fill a backpack and United Way knows that some families struggle to get this done.

Letters were sent out to almost 600 children throughout Brown County whose families qualify for the free lunch program.

“Many families take advantage of this program and tell us how grateful they are to get these supplies,” United Way Executive Director Donna Lambrecht said. “We had such a great response last year from people who dropped off supplies at the many donation boxes we had placed throughout the county. We hope to see lots of donations again this year.”

Last year the United Way collected 7,500 pencils, 1,300 spiral notebooks, 500 boxes of Kleenex, 300 highlighters and much more.

New Ulm’s boxes are located at Bank Midwest, Citizens Bank Minnesota, Frandsen Bank & Trust, Jensen Motors, South Point Financial Credit Union, New Ulm Public Library, Christ the King Lutheran Church, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, First United Methodist Church, United Church of Christ, St. John’s Catholic Church (Searles), St. George Catholic Church, 3M, AMPI Butter plant, AMPI Corporate offices, Elkay Manufacturing, Jensen Motors, Kohls Weelborg Chevrolet, Kraft Foods, New Ulm Medical Center, SpecSys and Windings. Staff, church members and customers at these locations are encouraged to contribute. A suggested list of supplies is on each donation box as well as on the United Way website (www.unitedwaybrowncountyrarea.org). Only new, unused items are needed.

To help kids be excited to start school because they have a new backpack filled with supplies on their school’s list, consider putting crayons, markers, highlighters, hand sanitizer and much more in a donation box near you. Monetary gifts can also be sent to United Way Backpack Project, PO Box 476, New Ulm, MN 56073.