ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: Energy was high as volunteers stuffed clear backpacks with fresh crayons, markers and new notebooks to help students head back to school.

WILL HUPP: It's an electric event.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: It's the seventh annual Ultimate Backpack Supply Drive hosted by VCU.

Volunteers from local businesses spent Thursday afternoon in backpack-filling assembly lines at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.

WILL HUPP: Over the next week, we'll be delivering them all across the Greater Richmond area to the 88 schools, to all the students, and we'll be delivering over 35,000 backpacks.

When it's all said and done.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: Organizers say it's the largest of its kind in the country.

Richmond City Council member Cynthia Newbille has been volunteering since the drive began.

CYNTHIA NEWBILLE: The cost of getting a child, and if you have multiple children, prepared in terms of not just school supplies, but attire and everything else that can be a challenge.

And so this provides a real resource for our families.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: The free materials will be waiting for students, welcoming them back on their first day in the classroom.

For VPM News, I'm Adrienne Hoar McGibbon.