Students chose their backpacks inside the UCLA football locker room Sunday, then walked out through the players’ tunnel onto the Rose Bowl field.
The 3rd Annual Dena Community Backpack Giveaway ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Rose Bowl Stadium, pairing the free distribution with dozens of community resource tables. Pasadena Unified School District classes resume Monday, Aug. 17.
The temperature was somewhere in the 90s inside the stadium, according to Pasadena Now reporter Eddie Rivera, who described thousands of students and their parents arriving through the morning.
The Rose Bowl Institute hosted the giveaway, bringing together dozens of community organizations for a day of free backpacks, school supplies and resources for families across Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley.
Local nonprofit Neighborhood Servants brought 33 resource tables to the field, along with more than 200 raffle prizes.
Michelle White, the organization’s chief executive, has been running distributions like this one for more than a decade.
“This is actually my 13th year of doing backpack giveaways, but this is our second year here at the Rose Bowl in partnership,” White said.
She stressed that the aim was to remove a purchase from families still working through fire recovery.
“And so with this, we want our Eaton Fire survivors to not have to go to the store and buy anything, as much as possible,” White said. “That’s why we run a free store.”
Paralympic swimmer Jamal Hill was also on hand. Hill is a two-time Paralympian who won bronze in the men’s 50-meter freestyle S9 at the Tokyo Games, according to Team USA, and placed fifth in the same event in Paris. Hill founded the Swim Up Hill foundation in 2020 and trains at the Boys and Girls Club of Pasadena, where he was once a member.
“What I do with this group (Classroom Champions) is help young students in the classrooms feel connected to not just greatness, but their inner champions,” Hill said.
The event was held by Rose Bowl Stadium and the Rose Bowl Institute in collaboration with Neighborhood Servants, the Pasadena Educational Foundation, Project Passion, Shriners LA and other community partners.
Families who missed Sunday’s giveaway can still find backpacks and supplies through Neighborhood Servants online at neighborhoodservants.com, or at the Eaton Fire Collaborative’s Collaboratory, 540 W. Woodbury Road, Altadena.
Hill said the point of showing up is not the medals.
“But being a real life mentor, not just talking about my wins, but talking about my setbacks, talking about my challenges, and helping them understand that their own setbacks and challenges are really just the makings of an incredible story,” he said.
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