It’s something akin to a Christmas morning: For the past three years, Soni Sangha’s back-to-school drive has provided kids exactly what they need to start the school year right.

“It just winds up being such a happy day. We have real moments of pure joy when a kid finds the backpack of their dreams, or the pen that they always wanted," Sangha said.

What You Need To Know

  • Soni Sangha has been giving back to her Park Slope community for years. During the confusion of the pandemic, she opened a food pantry that began servicing more than 500 families in the area

  • With the school year starting, Sangha is now working on making sure kids have what they need for success. Her back-to-school drive raised enough for 900 backpacks, which was far more than their goal

  • For Sangha , the joy of kids finding the perfect backpack is everything. She hopes that having the new gear will help give them the confidence to achieve in the coming school year

It was a need Sangha first noticed at the beginning of the pandemic.

“Yes, we can be a little ridiculous here in Park Slope with our kale and whatever else we’re stereotyped as, " Sangha said with a laugh. "But it’s way more complicated than that. We look like the rest of the city, which is a lot of people struggling to pay rent or get groceries.”

Rallying more than 60 volunteers, Sangha opened the Camp Friendship food pantry that began servicing more than 500 families weekly.

“It’s been really eye-opening and dramatic to see what that struggle looks like in our city,” Sangha said.

And with the school year right around the corner, Sangha is set to fill those school supply lists. The original goal was to provide 600 backpacks, but thanks to an overwhelming number of donations, 900 backpacks were provided.

“It is a surprise, because this is way beyond what our goals were, but it’s not a surprise given the generosity,” Sangha said.

Watching as kids smile with glee over the perfect backpack, Sangha can’t help but also smile.

“The pandemic was so hard, and it felt very hopeless, and this is a time that we can kind of come together and feel a little bit of hope that has been lacking because all of this beautiful stuff. All of these helping hands is just community coming together," Sangha said. "And it’s just so profoundly beautiful and meaningful. It’s just a wonderful thing to be in.”

For supplying a community with backpacks full of hope, Soni Sangha is our New Yorker of the Week.