With the beginning of the new school year rapidly approaching for students in districts across the county, many families are scrambling to make room in the budget for the pens, pencils, paper and other required supplies their children need before the first bell rings next month.

Volunteers with the United Way of Southwest Michigan are looking to once again help take the sting out of school supply shopping for many Cass County parents and kids.

The local service organization will hold its annual School Supply Spectacular from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, at the Lewis Cass ISD Brookside Learning Center in Cassopolis. Local volunteers will hand out free backpacks to county grade school students, with each bag filled with school supplies appropriate for each age group, said United Way representative Doug Ferrall.

Last year, the organization gave out more than 800 of the 1,000 prepared backpacks at the Cassopolis drive, with the remaining bags handed out at a second giveaway in Marcellus, Ferrall said. Volunteers will be prepping another 1,000 bags for this weekend’s giveaway, organizing the purchased supplies on Tuesday and packing the sacks on Friday.

“The need is big, and we’d rather have too many bags than too few,” Ferrall said. “We want everyone who needs a backpack to get one.”

The United Way has been holding the event with the ISD for the past eight years. With many Cass County students hailing from lower income households, the giveaway fulfills a tangible need for local children, Ferrall said.

“It’s a very rewarding event, for us and for the volunteers that come out,” Ferrall said.

In addition to the supplies, a mobile food pantry with Feeding America will hand out boxes of food to families. Representatives with local service agencies will also be at the event as well.

While the backpacks will be handed out on a first come, first serve basis, everyone who has attended the giveaway has walked away with a bag, Ferrall said.

“If you need a bag, come out,” he said. “We’d like to make it as simple as possible.”

People interested in volunteering for Saturday’s event can sign up on the United Way of Southwest Michigan’s website, uwsm.org.