How to get free school supplies and backpacks in Rochester and Monroe County
Families in Rochester and Monroe County may get free school supplies, filled backpacks, sneakers, haircuts, and school clothes before the year starts, without paying for any of it. This page lists the standing programs, charities, city events, and giveaways across Monroe County NY that help students show up ready, with contact information and verified websites for each.
The help here comes in two forms. A few programs run on a dependable schedule every year — the Salvation Army's walk-in supply bags downtown are the workhorse — while dozens of one-day giveaways appear across the city each August at churches, parks, and community centers. NOTE: Most one-day events are first come, first served, and nearly all require the child to be there. A section near the bottom covers how to find the current summer's events. Families who also need school clothes can check the page on free clothing closets in Monroe County.
City and school district help
City of Rochester
The city itself puts on a back-to-school community event, organized through its Office of Violence Prevention, where students get free school supplies alongside haircuts, food, sneaker giveaways, and tables where parents can connect with job training and youth programs. It has been held at the Rochester Community Sports Complex on Oak Street, and city R-Centers have hosted their own backpack giveaways as well. Timing and location are announced fresh each summer on the city's site at https://www.cityofrochester.gov/.
Rochester City School District
Two things are worth knowing if money is limited. First, RCSD feeds every child free all summer long — kids and teens through age 18 can get breakfast and lunch at schools and community sites across the city while school is out, no paperwork required.
Second, many of the backpacks collected around Rochester each year, including those filled by area businesses through the Small Business Council's Backpack Giveback at https://www.rochestersbc.com/who-we-are, reach city students through the schools themselves. A parent who can't cover the supply list should say so to the front office or the school social worker — that is exactly where donated supplies end up, and it is handled quietly. District family events have also included backpack giveaways listed at https://www.rcsdk12.org/.
The Salvation Army of Greater Rochester
Emergency Family Services: 70 Liberty Pole Way, Rochester, NY 14604
This is the most dependable school supply program in the county. Bags of school supplies are handed out first come, first served, generally at the Liberty Pole Way center. They are typically becoming available in the last days of August, with the contents matched to the number of children in the household and their ages.
Bring photo ID and proof that the children live with you. The bags are filled from the organization's Stuff the Bus collections at area Walmart stores and from business supply drives sorted at its West Avenue location. On the county's west edge, its partner Life Solutions of Hamlin has offered bags by appointment. Exact start dates shift a little each cycle, so confirm before making the trip. More is on the Salvation Army of Monroe County NHPB page and at https://rochesterny.salvationarmy.org/empire/rochester/school-supplies.
Pencils & Paper — free supplies for teachers
Monroe County has something most regions don't: a countywide free store where teachers from enrolled high-poverty schools shop for classroom supplies at no cost, twice a year, stocking their rooms so students who arrive empty-handed still have what they need. The program began at Jewish Family Services and recently moved to the Rochester Rehabilitation Center, which now runs it. Teachers can check whether their school is enrolled on the program page; parents benefit indirectly every time their child's classroom is stocked. Website: https://www.rochesterrehab.org/pencils-and-paper.
Jewish Family Services (JFS Rochester)
255 East Ave, Suite 201, Rochester, NY 14604. Phone: (585) 461-0110
JFS, a century-old family agency, includes school supplies among the basic-needs help it offers families, alongside food through its Brighton Food Cupboard and holiday food baskets. Help is request-based rather than an event, so call or reach out through the site to ask what's available for your situation. Website is https://jfsrochester.org/.
McDonald's Golden Arches Pack Giveback
An unusual one: McDonald's owner-operators across the Rochester region hand out free backpacks stuffed with school supplies at participating restaurants over a few days in late summer, from city locations to towns like Spencerport and Henrietta and out into neighboring counties. One bag per child, and the child must be present. The list of participating restaurants and days changes annually and is announced through local news each August.
Neighborhood organizations in the city
Barakah Muslim Charity
584 Jefferson Ave, Rochester, NY 14611. Phone: (585) 325-2621
Barakah anchors help on the southwest side and welcomes families of every background. Each year it distributes backpacks fully stocked with school supplies, and its Day of Dignity events, held with Islamic Relief USA, have combined school supplies with free coats, hygiene kits, haircuts, and food. The same building runs a food pantry serving hundreds of families a month, so a back-to-school trip can cover groceries too. Event timing is set each cycle, so check ahead at https://barakahmuslimcharity.org/programs.
Cameron Community (Cameron Community Ministries)
Cameron Street, Lyell-Otis neighborhood, northwest Rochester
This urban outreach center — now often listed simply as Cameron Community — serves one of the city's lowest-income neighborhoods with a free hot lunch every weekday, an emergency food pantry, a clothing house stocked with clothes and housewares, and after-school and teen programs. Back-to-school supply giveaways have been held here with donations collected by partner churches, and the clothing house can help outfit kids for school year-round. Plans vary season to season, so call before going. Website: https://cameroncommunity.org/
Mary's Place Refugee Outreach
414 Lexington Ave, Rochester, NY 14613. Phone: (585) 270-8626
Mary's Place serves refugee and New American families in the Maplewood and Edgerton neighborhoods, and every year it collects backpacks and school supplies and hands them out at summer's end to the children and grandchildren of the families it serves. The center also offers daily English classes, case management, immigration help, and weekly food and clothing distribution, with staff and volunteers used to working across many languages. Families connect by becoming participants first, so call or stop in during weekday hours at https://www.marysplaceoutreach.org/.
Finding each summer's giveaway events
A large share of Rochester's free backpacks are given out at one-day events that change hosts and locations every single year: church giveaways, charter school community bashes open to the neighborhood, events organized by school board members and elected officials along West Avenue and the North Clinton corridor, and back-to-school resource fairs hosted by Rochester Regional Health with supplies and family services.
Because the list changes annually, the fastest way to find what's happening this season is to dial 211 — see below — or check Rochester's local TV news sites, which publish giveaway guides every August.
More help in Monroe County
Monroe County's 211 line is answered around the clock by 211/LIFE LINE, a program run by Goodwill of the Finger Lakes, and its specialists keep track of which giveaways and assistance programs are active right now — dial 211 from any phone. Goodwill also collects donated school supplies each season that flow to local students through its community programs and partners at https://www.goodwillfingerlakes.org/programs/211-life-line-and-988.
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