An education reform group is making sure township students are ready to return to the classroom and will give 3,800 backpacks loaded with school supplies to township students.

The Better Education Institute (BEI), a Cranford-based nonprofit, will dole out the backpacks to Willingboro public school students from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at two Memorial Middle School at 451 Van Sciver Parkway and J.C. Stuart Elementary School at 70 Sunset Road.

Organizers ask that parents have their children with them when picking up the backpacks. Supplies are limited.

The giveaway is a partnership between the BEI, New Jersey Assemblyman Troy Singleton, D-7th of Palmyra, and the Willingboro school district.

According to BEI, the group has given out 103,500 supply-laden backpacks in 21 New Jersey communities over the past four years. Students in low-income communities are the focus.

“We are proud to be working with the Willingboro public schools and the town of Willingboro to provide their students with the basic tools to start the new school year,” BEI outreach coordinator Gerard Green said.

Singleton lauded the event as a way for kids to start the school year on the right foot.

“We are grateful for BEI’s commitment to help the children of Willingboro,” he said. “Their contribution will help our students start the school year prepared to learn.”

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