GREENFIELD — The 21st annual Blooming Backpacks drive to collect new backpacks filled with school supplies for students in need will conclude on Tuesday, Aug. 5.

The community effort organized by Women’s Way, an affinity group of United Way of the Franklin & Hampshire Region, began in 2005 and provides hundreds of backpacks each year to students across Franklin County.

“The Women’s Way, their philosophy … was to help women and children in our community, and they had a lot of different ideas and had a lot of different programs,” Women’s Way Chair Terry Desautels said. “And this just became one of them.”

Backpack and supply donations for students in elementary through high school can be brought to a free celebration event in Conference Rooms A and B at Baystate Franklin Medical Center. The event is slated for 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 5. There will be speakers at 5 p.m. and free refreshments.

Donations can be dropped off through Aug. 4 at United Way’s Greenfield office at 51 Davis St., Suite 2. Call United Way at 413-584-3962 for the best office hours. Monetary donations are also welcome at tinyurl.com/BloomingBackpacks2025 or via check, with 100% of donations going toward the purchase of additional supplies.

“We’re really excited to be able to do this for the kids, especially this year — prices have gone up so much,” Desautels said.

Desautels mentioned this year’s Blooming Backpacks event will represent the first large-scale gathering since the COVID-19 pandemic. She also said the community is traditionally quite generous.

Greenfield Cooperative Bank and its Northampton Cooperative Bank division have entered into a new partnership with United Way to support the backpack drive. Donation boxes are available at all 10 of the bank’s branches.

Suggested items include writing utensils (No. 2 pencils, markers, colored pencils and crayons), notebooks, binders, glue sticks, scissors, calculators and lunch boxes. Donors are asked to label donated bags by age group.

“As a Women’s Way volunteer, it’s incredibly rewarding to witness the generosity behind each backpack donated,” Mary Rawls, the Greenfield/Northampton Cooperative Bank’s executive vice president and compliance officer, said in a statement. “These supplies give local kids the support they need to succeed on their path to learning.”

According to United Way, struggling families often need to choose between providing food or school supplies for their children. Desautels said research shows that self-esteem, academic achievement, attendance and classroom participation improve when students enter school fully equipped with materials for learning.

A list of suggested school supplies can be found at uw-fh.org/womensway. To RSVP for the Aug. 5 event and learn more about donating to the drive, email program@uw-fh.org or call 413-824-8154.

Community nonprofit partners, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western Massachusetts, Community Action Family Center and Youth Programs, the Mary Lyon Foundation and The Heartwing Center will distribute the supplies to students in the region before the new school year begins.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.