ASTORIA, NY – Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens hosted their annual free Back to School Festival on September 7 sponsored by HydroQuebec, Champlain Hudson Power Express, TD Bank, Heroes Basketball, and the Rite Bite. Over 2000 backpacks and school supplies were given away to kids present at the event. Mrs. Met was in attendance to give out backpacks to kids.

Backpacks and supplies were generously donated by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr., New York State Senator Kristin Gonzalez, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, Staples store 1575, The Amazin’ Mets Foundation, New York Cares, Steve Madden, Break a Difference, Public Employees Federation, Queens Center Mall, Kars 4 Kids, Rise Light and Power, Blackstone, Con Edison, Mega Development, and ICNA Relief. At the event, Chip City gave out 1,000 cookies, Sky Farm LIC gave away fresh produce, and additional drinks and snacks were provided.

The festival included a bounce house, inflatable games, tie dye t-shirt station, face painting, balloon animals, and more. Vendors present were BioBus conducting science experiments, Shareing and Careing, NYPA, NYC Administration for Children’s Services and New York Life.

“Overall, we disseminated over 2000 backpacks to the Western Queens community. The Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens’ Development Department looks forward to this event every year. We are honored and humbled by the number of donors that this event yields and we are so thankful to be able to give back to our community to ensure a good start to the school year for all our children,” Leah Carter, Chief Advancement Officer.

Variety was also joined by dozens of volunteers from Disney VoluntEars, Target, New York Life, Variety’s Young Professionals as well as Variety Alums.