As school supply prices climb, Bronx organizations fill the gap

Back-to-school shopping is already well underway for some residents, and while the classic school supply checklist hasn’t changed much over the years, the price tag attached to it has.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that prices for educational books and school materials were up nearly 10 percent in May compared with a year earlier. Shoppers are pinching pennies where they can this year, with the National Retail Federation reporting that nearly half plan to purchase only the essentials needed for the start of the school year. In the Bronx, where many families are already stretched thin, these rising costs have turned neighborhood school supply drives into something closer to a necessity.

As of 2024, the Bronx’s poverty rate stood at 28.8 percent, well above the citywide rate of 18 percent, according to the New York University Furman Center, and median household income in the borough was about 43 percent less than the citywide median.

At The Bronx Burger House, located at 5816 Mosholu Ave., head bartender and social media manager Andi el-Saieh is running the restaurant’s fifth annual “Burgers and Backpacks” drive to meet the community’s needs. The drive collects backpacks, notebooks, pencils, erasers and markers, plus occasional big-ticket items like calculators, before distributing them to children through community organizations.

The restaurant’s commitment to education is personal. El-Saieh, like many employees there, worked at the Bronx Burger House while paying her way through college, and owner Andre Gounardes has long prioritized educational giving after leaving college himself to support his family.

“We’ve been doing it for quite a while, mainly to give back to the neighborhood,” el-Saieh said. “It is hard to be present and learn in school when you’re going home, knowing that your family is struggling.”

Three years ago, el-Saieh connected with Julissa Pereira, owner of La Escuelita de Sofia at 5720 Mosholu Ave. — a family-run, dual-language school for children ages 2 to 5 — after recognizing her as a regular customer. The two have run the drive together ever since.

Before donations are collected, Pereira has her preschoolers decorate collection boxes and talk about why some children may need help getting school supplies.

“It’s the lesson of life that we’re so fortunate and we have to give to others,” Pereira said. “We teach them when they’re little, so that when they grow up, they continue helping the community.”

Once donations come in, Pereira’s students help pack them into backpacks before they’re handed off to local organizations. In past years, goods have gone to nonprofits like Bronx Works, which provides supportive housing services to hundreds in the borough.

Pereira and el-Saieh are still deciding where this round’s supplies will go.

This year, donors can also purchase supplies through an Amazon wish list, which el-Saieh said helps build complete backpacks rather than receiving large quantities of a single item. While notebooks, pencils and markers arrive en masse, she said, one item consistently proves hardest to collect.

“Backpacks are always a big-ticket item because they’re so expensive,” el-Saieh said. “Nobody ever wants to donate them due to the price.”

At Kingsbridge Riverdale Van Cortlandt Development Corporation, or KRVC, the goal is to distribute 450 backpacks to children living in Bronx shelters through its seventh annual backpack drive.

KRVC Executive Director Laura Levine-Pinedo said the organization is roughly halfway to its goal, with donations made through an Amazon wish list or directly to the nonprofit.

Levine-Pinedo said KRVC buys backpacks in solid colors rather than character-themed designs, so children of different ages all have options they feel comfortable carrying. Families are invited to pick out the backpack they want rather than simply being handed one.

“We actually let the kids pick their book bags,” Levine-Pinedo said. “In a world where people living in shelters lack choices, it’s very important for us.”

The need for school supplies extends beyond community organizations and into classrooms, educators say.

Spuyten Duyvil resident Suzanne Likeness is a reading intervention teacher at a Title I charter school in the South Bronx. Title I is a federal program that provides additional funding to schools with a high percentage of students from low-income households. 

She said her school routinely keeps classrooms stocked with basic materials. Rather than asking why a student doesn’t have supplies, teachers simply make them available to everyone.

“We try to level the playing field,” she said. “If they need a notebook, index cards, pens, pencils, that kind of thing, we’ll provide.”

Likeness said having supplies readily available prevents unnecessary disruptions and spares students any embarrassment about asking for help.

“We don’t want families to have that expense,” she said, adding that having what students need is important for morale.

Similarly, for el-Saieh, the goal of the Bronx Burger House drive is to remove at least one barrier before students walk through the school doors.

“It’s not solving every problem they have,”  el-Saieh said. “It’s helping bridge the gap in one little way and helping set them up for success just a little bit more.”