GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV)-Remember how good it felt to have a cool new backpack and fresh new pencils on the first day of school?

For some families in Northeast Wisconsin, this feeling wouldn’t be possible without a little help.

The Service League of Green Bay is stuffing 3000 backpacks with school supplies for underprivileged elementary and middle school students in the Green Bay Area as part of their annual Back To School Store.

“We provide when there is a need and this is just something that has continued to come up for quite a few years,” says Marketing Chair for the Back to School Store and the Service League of Green Bay Anna Burnette.

As part of the Back to School Store, the Service League of Green Bay is also giving away clothing like socks and underwear and supplies like toothbrushes. They say 24 percent of students in Green Bay are considered to be living in poverty.

“We just don’t want these kids to have to think about if they have the supplies that they need,” says Burnette. “Like that’s just a worry that we want to take off their shoulders.

Because of COVID-19 protocols, students can’t come to the Kress Events Center at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay to pick out items themselves this year so volunteers are filling the backpacks to give to students and families.

“Being able to do something that seems relatively simple that I personally think has a big impact on these kids and how their education is going to go this year,” says Burnette.

The Back To School Store kicked off Monday morning and runs through Wednesday.