Re: back to school shopping. at my work and at pretty much all similar employers in Silicon Valley, there is a back to school drive going on right now. Unfortunately I cannot afford to participate, I have credit card debts and am behind on child support. But the idea is: the contributor buys a backpack and a list of items and places them in the backpack and brings to work. We have a hallway full of backpacks now. I do not know how they get distributed, but you may ask in your area - maybe a similar thing exists. The backpack really contains all that is necessary, except for clothing.