School Supply Drive

2024 Young Leaders United Back to School Supply Drive

Join Trident United Way Young Leaders United in supporting children in the Tri-County area!

Our school supply drive helps children in our community be prepared for the school year. In 2023, we provided over 1,400 children with essential supplies. Help us continue this impact by donating through our virtual supply drive! Together, we can ensure that every child starts the school year ready to learn and succeed.

Donating is easy - just visit the link below, select the number of supplies you'd like to purchase and we'll take care of the rest! Supplies will be distributed to students and schools through our local nonprofit partners around the Tri-County.

The YLU Back to School Supply Drive ends July 16!

Thank you to our event sponsors for their generous support

2023 Trident United Way Young Leaders United School Supply Drive

A huge thank you to everyone who generously contributed to the 2023 Young Leaders United School Supply Drive! Whether you donated, sponsored, volunteered or shared the opportunity with your network, you made a huge difference in the lives of many students in the Tri-County community.

1,400 backpacks and school supplies were donated through the 2023 Young Leaders United virtual supply drive and are being distributed through community partners in the Tri-County area. 120 volunteers participated in the supply drive packing over a two day period at the UPS Customer Center.

Community Partners who received backpacks: Charleston Hispanic Association, CHS Promise Neighborhood (Mary Ford Elementary), Carolina Youth Develoment Center, Lowcountry Orphan Relief, McKinney Vento, My Sisters House, One80 Place, Our Lady of Mercy Community Outrech, St. Julian Devine Community Center, The Hope Center and Trident United Way Resource Connection Centers.

Thank you to our sponsors

2022 Trident United Way Young Leaders United Back to School Supply Drive

2,700 backpacks and school supplies were donated to Title I elementary schools in the Tri-County area. Over $58,000 worth of backpacks and supplies were donated through the support of 19 company drives and 397 donors!

Over 80 volunteers gathered at the UPS warehouse on August 9th and 10th to pack the backpacks with supplies. The final 100 backpacks were packed during the Young Leader's United socialize & serve event at Firefly Distillery on August 11th. Personel from UPS delivered boxes packed with the filled backpacks to Title I elementary schools on August 12th.

Schools that recieved backpacks and supplies:

AC Corcoran Elementary

Clay Hill Elementary

Harleyville Elementary

JK Gourdin Elementary

Pepperhill Elementary

St. Stephen Elementary

Williams Memorial Elementary

“Wow, wow, wow is what I would say to those who helped to make this dream a reality for my students. What a powerful way to say you really care. We are most fortunate to have the generosity of this community. You are helping to set up each of my students for a very successful year!" -St. Stephen Elementary Principal Elaine Graham

Special thanks to UPS for donating temporary storage space for the backpacks and supplies and making the deliveries to area schools. Additionally, we would like to thank the following companies who promoted the drive with their employees and teams:

2021 Young Leaders United Back to School Supply Drive

In 2021 Trident United Way's Young Leaders United hosted their annual school supply drive to provide essential supplies to students in need at Title I Elementary schools. These supplies are necessary for students to succeed throughout the school year. Through a virtual platform, donors were provided the option to purchase backpacks and supply kits for students. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who supported the 2021 Trident United Way Young Leaders United School Supply Drive! Thanks to the overwhelming support and generosity of so many in our community, 16 local companies and 384 individuals contributed $43,000 in donations for 2,700 backpacks and supply kits, surpasing the original goal of 2,000!

2021 Top Donors:

Carolina One Real Estate Agents

Johnson & Johnson

Elliott Davis

Ingevity

Equiscript

Around 100 volunteers gathered at Firefly Distillery for the Back(Pack) to School Bash to fill backpacks with school supplies, including paper, pencils, erasers, folders, glue sticks, crayons, colored pencils and scissors. W.B. Goodwin Elementary School Principal Natasha Jones shared the impact of the backpack and supply drive on local students, and Trident United Way Sing United winner Gritty Flyright performed throughout the event. The following day UPS personnel loaded the backpacks into their trucks and delivered to College Park Elementary, Harleyville Elementary, W.B. Goodwin Elementary and Windsor Hill Elementary. Additional deliveries were made to Mount Zion Elementary and Eagle Nest Elementary.  

2020 Young Leaders United Virtual School Supply Drive

Thanks to the generosity of many in our community, over 320 individual donors and 16 local companies provided 3x the number of backpacks and supplies as compared to the 2019 school supply drive! The teachers and students who recieved the supplies were incredibly thankful to receive all of the donations.

2020 School Supply Drive Donor Highlights

Carolina One

Carolina One responded in a huge way to the 2020 Virtual School Supply Drive! Agents donated over $14,500 of supplies through TUW's Roonga donation page, equipping 755 students with backpacks and supplies. 

Select Health of South Carolina

Select Health of South Carolina supplied an initial 300 backpacks to students at College Park, Midland Park and Newington Elemtary. When they were informed there was still a need for more backpacks, they donated an additional 500 more to College Park and Newington Elementary. This meant all students at these schools would have a backpack to start off the year.

In addition to providing backpacks, Select Health also donated 300 small hand sanitizers as well as excess classroom supplies through TUW's Roonga donation page, valued at over $2,600!

Trident United Way President & CEO Chloe Knight Tonney spoke with Mt. Zion Elementary Principal Anna Mims to discuss the impact of the school supply drive on students and teachers in their community, and shares the excitement and gratitude she experienced when handing out supplies.

Trident United Way Young Leaders United Chair Michael Samuels shares his thanks for the generosity of those who donated.