PUEBLO — At the end of every summer, parents have to deal with the expenses of back to school shopping. One Pueblo business is trying to help, by giving out free backpacks filled with school supplies.
Geared Up Auto Care has been doing this for four years now, and they started with 200 backpacks the first year. This year, they have 1,000 to hand out.
The owners were born and raised in Pueblo, and said this is their way to give back to the community. This year, it cost them around $10,000 to buy all of the backpacks and school supplies, and they said they have already started saving up for next year.
They save half of the money from every alignment they do to pay for the giveaway, according to the business.
Owner Andrea Higgins said it takes them around a month to get everything packed up and ready for the children, but she said it's worth it to see the looks on the kid's faces. "Let them know that somebody cares about them, it makes a difference in their life from here on out," said Higgins.
Higgins also said they typically give away all of the backpacks in only one day, but not this year. They will be handing out backpacks on Friday, August 2, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and if they don't give them all away tomorrow they said they will be available to grab until they are gone.
