By Eliza PARTIKA

The Crescenta Valley Lions Club is collecting backpacks for foster children at its annual Kases for Kids event alongside Los Angeles Dept. of Children and Family Services.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 24, the Lions will collect backpacks that will be filled with toys and practical supplies and given to foster children. This year, the Lions hope to give away 250 packs. The Kases for Kids donation event will take place at the Ralph’s parking lot on Foothill Boulevard and Raymond Avenue.

The community is asked to donate items including toothbrushes, toothpaste, facial tissues and washcloths as well as “back to school” supplies like pencils, pens, notebooks, coloring books and markers.

Kases for Kids collects and distributes suitcases, duffle bags, backpacks and similar carrying cases to children about to enter the foster care system. While they never meet the kids they help, Lions Club member Stephen Mack said the impact of each donation is always greatly felt and appreciated.

“Many foster kids are caught in the transition from home to home. Often, this means that the only possessions they have is what the Lions Club – and their generous community contributors – can provide,” Mack said in an email to the CV Weekly.

Local non-profits like the Lions Club are in a position to address the needs of the most vulnerable, said Mack and as a result community organizations can often do work that states and local governments cannot do.

“All of us – all kids, and especially kids in need – need to know that our communities are our extended family. It’s never enough, of course, but we hope to play a small but important role alongside our other community partners,” he said.

The target number of backpacks the Lions Club aims to deliver is always dependent of how many filled backpacks are donated by the community.

The Lions face a yearly challenge to gather enough materials to put inside the backpacks, such as school supplies, small blankets or stuffed animals, as well as collecting enough backpacks. To meet the challenge, the Lions began collecting money to assist in purchasing needed goods while leaning heavily on high schoolers from the Leos Club who help sort and pack bags.

Mack wants the community to know it plays a big part in ensuring kids get what they need and they have a “tangible connection to people who care.”

“One more indication to them, we hope, is they are not alone,” Mack said.