Thanks to the generosity of Houston-area companies and community organizations, many HISD students have the supplies they need to start the new school year.

For the fourth year in a row, NRG, formerly known as Reliant Energy, helped local students with a donation of more than $20,000 worth of school supplies. NRG executives were on hand at the Martin Luther King Jr. Early Childhood Center the week before school started to personally distribute the school supply packets to students. Four thousand more backpacks that include grade-specific supplies for students in grades K-12, such as crayons, notebooks, pens, paper, or folders, will be distributed to more than 35 HISD schools.

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“What better way to help young kids, our future leaders, than to give them school supplies, so that when they start school, they’ll have all the supplies they need,” said William Clayton, NRG Energy vice president of customer care. “This donation will support about 4,000 children throughout HISD.”

Earlier in August, the NCAA Final 14 donated 4,000 new backpacks stuffed with school supplies to third-graders at 40 HISD elementary schools. Volunteers from Target and from the recipient schools organized the supplies and stuffed the backpacks full of notebooks, pencils, glue sticks, and more.

Office Depot donated 1,200 school supply kits that will go to students at 12 HISD schools. Several other local companies and organizations hosted small-scale school supply drives to benefit schools in their communities, including Chevron, Rexel, LNC Communications, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Newhouse & Noblin, Raymond James & Associates, and Stone Energy Corporation.

“Some parents can’t actually afford school supplies,” said parent Markeysha Hinderman. “This really helps parents start their year off. Even if they don’t have anything, this is a great start for them.”