By Bethany Overland

It’s mid-August, and the new school year is less than a month away. New clothes, shoes and school supplies can be hard on the budget of any family—that is, if you’re lucky enough to have a budget.

For homeless parents, back-to-school can mean back-to-wondering how they’ll meet their children’s needs for the new academic year. But thanks to Project Cool, more than 1,800 homeless students across King County will enter the year with a brand-new backpack, binder and other basic supplies necessary for success in school—and eventually in life.

More than 30 volunteers met Aug. 11 at a former Baptist church in Crown Hill to stuff backpacks with school supplies. Thousands of packages of crayons and markers and stacks of notebooks littered the hall, and brand-new backpacks waited reverently in the pews.

“On the surface, what we do doesn’t seem like a big deal,” said Project Cool Co-Chairwoman Cecelia Linsley. “It isn’t working to solve the bigger issue of homelessness or anything. But to these kids who rarely get new things, imagine walking through the school doors with brand new supplies, just like the rest of your peers. And, that’s what Project Cool is about, making these kids who constantly feel ‘different’ for once get to feel like they’re the same. We already know school is hard enough to begin with.”

Project Cool is a division of the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, a nonprofit organization that works to assist homeless people in King County while working on a long-term solution for what they call the regional crisis of homelessness.

Run solely by volunteers, Project Cool has provided school supplies to children of homeless families for 20 years. The backpacks, stuffed with supplies, are dispensed across King County’s numerous homeless agencies and given to children who are either in emergency shelters or transitional housing. In addition to the backpacks, the children also receive a $20 Payless Shoe Source gift certificate and a personal hygiene kit.

A King County case worker told a story of a mother and son who entered a Seattle shelter the night before school started. Because of Project Cool, the case worker was able to give the 10-year-old boy a backpack that could help him start his academic year off right, despite a rough time in the family’s personal life.

“It’s just as much a gift to the parents as it is to the children,” Linsley said. “Homeless parents aren’t concerned any less about their kids. Every kid wants things, and the parents want to provide. But, just because it’s back-to-school time doesn’t mean they suddenly have the extra cash.”

Though the fundraising drives are over for 2010, Project Cool still hasn’t met its monetary goals for the year. Donations can be made by visiting www.homelessinfo.org/project_cool or calling 206.926.9300.

Bethany Overland is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.