![Book Nook2](https://www.sunriver.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Book-Nook2-1200x675.jpg)
Our thanks to Blackstone for donating 350 backpacks for children who were headed back to school this September. Employees at Blackstone raised the money needed to purchase key supplies and then assembled 350 backpacks for the children in an all-hands afternoon-long event. This program, now in its third year, has grown immensely and we are so grateful for these efforts to help us ensure that children have what they need to feel confident at school. Contents of the backpacks included: pens, pencils, a pencil case, notebooks, folders, hand sanitizer and a toothbrush.
Blackstone employees also hosted a drive to collect books for children between the ages of three and eighteen who come to Sun River Health. Employees donated their most loved stories, childhood favorites, classic books and those that spark a love of reading in children. More than 200 books were donated through this outreach. This program, along with the backpack drive was coordinated and run by Ebony Livingston, Director of Application Training and Adoption at Blackstone Group, and who is a Sun River Health Ambassador. Ebony has been instrumental in directing key financial and ancillary support to Sun River Health in furtherance of our mission.
The backpacks and books were a huge hit with the kids and were given out during National Health Center Week in August at Sun River Health events in Peekskill, The Bronx, and Patchogue.