We’ve got an update on the West Seattle Helpline back-to-school backpack drive (sponsoring WSB right now to help get the word out) from Helpline director Anna Fern – including information on how you can help, not just with backpacks, but also with clothing donations:

We have collected about 130 backpacks towards our goal of 200. Along with the backpacks, people are donating lots of school supplies. The community response has been overwhelming. The West Seattle Rotary made a large contribution towards the program and the Helpline. A local attorney donated money for over 20 backpacks. Members of the First Lutheran Church of West Seattle donated over 60 backpacks. And individual donations from West Seattle residents are still coming in!

We have over 150 requests for backpacks with appointments for picking them up (including) next Tuesday and Thursday. (But we are receiving over 10 requests a day…so we will end up having more than 200 requests by the middle of next week. We have limited it to just families in the West Seattle area–98106, 98126, 98136 and 98146 zip codes.) …

We still need more backpacks, but even more than that we really need “gently used or new clothing” for school age children. Most families will be picking up the backpacks and then shopping at the Clothesline at the same time.

You can donate backpacks by dropping them off at Capers in The Junction (map/address), Coffee at the Heights (WSB sponsor) in Sunrise Heights (map/address), or Helpline HQ (map/address). To donate money so Helpline can buy more backpacks, use the button atop its website. And to find out how to donate clothes for Clothesline (we’ve reported on this “clothing bank,” here and here), here’s how to contact them.