Kids In Need Foundation Events
Throughout the year, Kids In Need Foundation hosts events and initiatives to create equitable learning environments where teachers and students have the supplies and resources they need to thrive.
Leading up to the biggest sporting event of the year, Kids In Need Foundation hosts Super Goal, an event where 10,000 backpacks are filled with core school supplies. The event takes place the week before the Super Bowl in that respective year's host city. Backpacks are built by volunteers and current and former professional football players join the event.
Backpacks are distributed to local under-resourced schools by partners and players the day after the event. As fans celebrate the biggest game of the year, it's also a reminder that together, we are building 10,000 backpacks and 10,000 futures.
August and September. Those two months are synonymous with Back-to-School season. Kids are geared up with new backpacks full of supplies and the hope of something new, something unknown and exciting.
And yet, as always, there are millions of school-aged children in under-resourced communities who will begin the year without the supplies they need to succeed in the classroom. Their backpacks may be tattered and empty, and they may head into the new year with anticipation laced with anxiety rather than excitement.
As the 2022-23 school year began, Kids In Need Foundation supported 174,040 students and 4,397 teachers in under-resourced schools.
As part of Teacher Appreciation Week, Kids In Need Foundation hosts its annual Thanks a Million Event on the first Saturday of May, celebrating 1,000 Twin Cities teachers with over $1 million in supplies and gifts. Each attending teacher works at a school with a student enrollment of 50 percent or more eligible for the National School Lunch Program.
Teachers have an unmatched impact on our society and future; they have a daily influence on tomorrow's leaders and are the key to unlocking a student's potential. They touch our society at every level and their influence can leave a legacy across several generations. Our teachers make many investments in their work--including spending more than $500 of their personal funds on their classrooms.
Fall is synonymous with the back-to-school season, and the need for supplies is top of mind. But what happens when teachers and students in underserved schools head back in January for the second semester?
The HALFTIME initiative kicks off the second semester by providing much-needed core school supplies to under-resourced teachers and their students across the country. Thru Kids In Need Foundation's Supply A Teacher program, teachers receive supplies to outfit their class for the remainder of the school year. The bonus: they are delivered across the country by phenomenal, philanthropic partners and professional football players.
Just like in a football game, being prepared for the second half leads to a win.
Learn more about our 2022-23 Halftime campaign.