12120 Bridgeton Square Dr.

St. Louis, Mo. 63044

314-993-3033

email: [email protected]

website: projectbackpackstlouis.org

Judy Pearlstone, Executive Director

Project Backpack fills a necessary niche in social services for St. Louis and surrounding areas. A nonprofit organization, Project Backpack helps local children who are taken from their homes due to domestic violence and other crisis situations. Backpacks—filled with age- (infant to 17 years old) and gender-appropriate necessities and comfort items—are provided to social workers, shelters and police to distribute “on-the-scene” and at the moment of need. There is no other organization in the St. Louis area addressing children’s immediate needs for emergency items such as sleepwear and toiletries during their first hours and days of transition. When frightened and insecure children are taken from their homes, receiving one of the filled backpacks helps alleviate some of their inner turmoil and lets them know that somebody cares. Started in 1999, Project Backpack now distributes about 250 backpacks per month throughout St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County and parts of Illinois. We work only with volunteers, and most donations come from private drives and devoted supporters.