Assembly Member Steven Raga hosted his third annual back-to-school backpack giveaway in Maspeth on Saturday, providing hundreds of local children with free school supplies ahead of the upcoming academic year.
Raga held the giveaway at his Maspeth district office at 55-19 69th St. on Saturday morning to support families in the area ahead of the new school year.
The event, supported by the offices of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, also connected local families with organizations such as the Korean American Family Service Center and the NYC Public Schools Office of Student Pathways.
Representatives from the American Debate League also raffled off gift cards in support of local families at Saturday’s giveaway.
Raga said his office is “so thankful” to all organizations who donated supplies for the giveaway, describing the event as an “amazing” morning.
“It’s been an amazing event,” Raga said. “You can see with the smiles on the faces of the kids that they’re going to have a great school year.
Raga added that the event aims to make it less difficult for families to start and prepare for the school year.
“A lot of the members in our community are families in need,” Raga said. “We need to invest in our children. We need to invest in education these days, of course, and so we don’t want any unnecessary hurdles for our families trying to learn here in our district.”
The giveaway was also supported by Metro Plus Health, Queens Center Mall, Carpenter Contractor Alliance of Metropolitan New York, NYC District Council of Carpenters, Korean American Family Service Center, Queens Public Library, Kinding Sindaw and Kings Plaza Shopping Center.
