Students began lining up early Saturday morning, before the doors even opened at Central High School; many taking the bus or the light rail all to get their hands on a brand new backpack.
Phoenix Union High School Districtteamed up with the organization, My Brother's Keeper to put on this event two days before school starts in the district.
From 9:00 a.m. until around 12:00 p.m., the organizations handed out as many of the roughly 2,000 backpacks they had full of school supplies.
There was also a separate room in the gymnasium full of resources for students and their parents, like after-school programs, jobs, information on meals within the district, etc.
This event was a little different than a normal backpack giveaway because this one was focused on helping children grades 9 to 12.
"Our youth have a lot of needs and often times high school kids are forgotten," Cyndi Tercero-Sandoval with the district. "So, this was really important for them to get a great start to the school year our kids needs to make sure they have the supplies that they need in order to be successful."
The remaining backpacks will be given out around the community and at some schools in the district for those kids who could not make it out Saturday morning.
