Jacen Call, Intern

Earlier this month, the Utah Center for Legal Inclusion wrapped up its 2026 Back-to-School Drive, and it came together better than we dared to hope. Over 600 backpacks went home with students across Salt Lake and Utah Counties, each one packed with school supplies and ready for the first day of school. The drive ran through most of August and included two restaurant fundraisers, generous donations from Costco and Target, an afternoon backpack assembly, and three community events.

We kicked things off on Tuesday, August 4th, with a fundraiser night at Chipotle in Salt Lake City, where supporters could order a meal and send a percentage of the proceeds to the drive. The following evening, we did it all again at Café Zupas in Orem, and saw more support and additional proceeds. Costco also approved an in-store donation credit that went straight toward school supplies.

We also want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the many individuals who donated to this year’s drive. We are especially grateful to Greenberg Traurig, UCLI Board members, and everyone who participated in UCLI Board Member Jascha Clark’s matching campaign, which helped us stretch every donation even further. Their generosity, along with the support of our many individual donors, made it possible for us to provide even more backpacks and supplies to students across our communities. Those gifts are worth pausing on. Every one of them became a real backpack, carried by a real student into a real classroom, and none of this would have happened without them. Between those donations, the two fundraiser nights, and the Costco credit, we sailed past our fundraising goal.

After we collected donations and funds, we ordered the supplies. On Monday, August 10th, Ambassadors, interns, and staff met at the Utah State Bar building to put the backpacks together. It took most of the afternoon and turned into one of the best parts of the whole drive, with everyone working down the line and talking while the stacks grew taller. By the end, we had over 600 backpacks sorted, boxed, and ready to go out three days later.

Our first two events both landed on Thursday, August 13th. We started at Backman Elementary for their Back-to-School Night, arriving early in the afternoon to unload supplies and get set up before families came through. Volunteers passed out backpacks, talked with students and parents about what UCLI does, and ran a trivia wheel with candy prizes. The questions were on the sillier side, including, “What do attorneys usually wear in court: a clown suit, a suit, or a bathing suit?” The kids loved them. For many of the students spinning that wheel, it was the first time they had ever talked with someone who works in the legal field, and a few minutes like that can open a door years down the road. Spanish-speaking volunteers were especially helpful at both schools. We are grateful to Sharon Chavez at Backman for coordinating our access, our setup, and everything else.

At 6:00 PM, we split up and headed to Meadowlark Elementary School, for their back-to-school event. Volunteers laid the backpacks out in rows by color along the steps and had everything staged before the doors opened. There was already a line outside when we arrived.

Meadowlark needed more than school supplies, and we were glad we could help. Along with backpacks and information about UCLI, we handed out hygiene items and canned and packaged food for the school’s pantry, which serves families in need and had been significantly depleted going into the school year because of rising costs. Watching those shelves fill back up was one of the best moments of the night. One of our volunteers also spent the evening in an inflatable dinosaur costume, which delighted just about every kid who came through the door. We are grateful to John Arthur, a sixth-grade teacher at Meadowlark, for facilitating our participation and for coordinating everything on the school’s end.

Two days later, on Saturday, August 15th, we headed south to Provo for a back-to-school event at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Utah County’s new clubhouse. From about 9:30 to 11:30 in the morning, we handed out backpacks filled with school supplies, along with UCLI pamphlets, stickers, swag, and treats. More than 400 people – 200 of them kids! – came through, which made for a busy and very happy couple of hours. We are grateful to Allison Evans, Special Events Coordinator for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Utah County, for inviting us and for helping make the event possible.

Overall, the Back-to-School Drive was a joy from beginning to end. It put supplies into the hands of students who needed them, connected UCLI with three wonderful schools and organizations on Salt Lake’s west side and in Utah County, and gave Fellows, Ambassadors, interns, and attorneys a chance to serve alongside one another before the school year began.

UCLI is grateful to Costco for the donation credit; to Chipotle and Café Zupas for hosting fundraiser nights; and to the incredible individuals who made it all possible We also thank everyone who bought dinner on a weeknight because a flyer asked them to, and every volunteer who filled backpacks on a Monday afternoon and then spent a long Thursday evening handing them out. Because we passed our fundraising goal, we were able to put together more backpacks than we ended up needing, and the extras are already set aside for next year’s Back-to-School Drive. It is a good problem to have and a happy place to start from next August.