As the golden heat of summer fades, the crisp scent of September fills the air. For most kids, it’s a season of new beginnings and anticipation, but for some, it’s a season of quiet heartbreak and humiliation.
“When are we going to buy my backpack?” little Natan asks Mommy, eyes sparkling eagerly.
Mommy promised. She’d promised him a new knapsack this year, and a Mickey Mouse lunchbox with a matching water bottle. Natan is so excited, he can’t fall asleep. For the first time ever, he’s going to have his own brand-new knapsack!

When Mommy walks in from the “store” clutching a frayed, secondhand Winnie the Pooh bag and smiling bravely as she says, “Look, Natan, here’s your new knapsack!” Natan’s world falls apart.
He bursts into tears. He doesn’t want his cousin’s old hand-me-down. He wants a new one, like Mommy promised.
“But you told me!” he sobs.
His mother’s heart shatters into a thousand fragments—for the millionth time. How do you explain to a six-year-old that money is so tight that you can’t afford a new knapsack for first grade? How do you tell him that since she made that erstwhile promise, their financial situation only deteriorated? That they had to take another loan, that his sister needed an emergency root canal, that his brother grew out of his shoes faster than she’d imagined…
Their balance is so deep in the red that she can’t even withdraw a hundred shekels.

Meirim Lachaim steps in during these overwhelming days right before the new school year to help families in need. We understand that a new knapsack and fresh school supplies are the ticket to a child’s emotional and social success in school, and the stepping stone to academic achievement. That’s why we distribute brand-new backpacks, school supplies, and even help with the cost of schoolbooks. At Meirim Lachaim, we believe that every child deserves a fresh start—and to start the school year out on the right foot with a new knapsack, markers and crayons that color their year with joy and catapult them to success!