back to school shopping can be a

struggle for some households living

paycheck to paycheck especially now amid

this rising inflation in an effort to

ease that financial strain the salvation

army held a back-to-school giveaway

event in new brunswick the event comes

as the governor announced there will be

a 10-day tax holiday on school supplies

from august 27 to september 10th in an

effort to make back-to-school shopping

more affordable for families and for

teachers who buy their own classroom

supplies as well but are the savings

enough melissa rose cooper reports as

part of our ongoing series chasing the

dream focusing on justice poverty and

economic opportunity

the days of summer are coming to an end

and it's almost time for seven-year-old

abraham to return to school yeah i'm

gonna be my friends

i'm gonna have my my own computer this

year he's even more excited to start the

first day of class wearing one of these

bags on his back yes but i'm happy it's

all thanks to the salvation army new

brunswick coors school backpack giveaway

the annual event provides children

attending kindergarten through ninth

grade with essential items they'll need

in the classroom all for free this

community

we had a lot of family that

they are facing in fighting in that our

economic area is crucial the salvation

army has been hosting the backpack

giveaway for about 10 years but captain

francisca trapari says it's especially

significant now with inflation forcing

families to spend higher prices on even

school supplies we want to impact

the family that they struggle for

different reasons they don't have um

enough money to to buy the

the school staff or

on prepare

their kids to go back to the school the

state also providing some relief for

families in preparation for the new

school year starting august 27th a

10-day tax holiday on school supplies

will go into effect that means families

and teachers who buy their own classroom

supplies won't have to pay taxes on

things like notebooks pens and pencils

computers under three thousand dollars

are also included and i think that

that's a

good response from the you know the the

people that they do that

um in in together then and us we can do

the quite different but with new jersey

sales tax at just over 6.6 percent some

critics don't believe the holiday will

provide much savings according to a

recent report from the institute on

taxation and economic policy temporary

tax holidays aren't as meaningful as

permanent reforms to help people who

need it the most and since anyone can

take advantage of it wealthier taxpayers

tend to benefit the most since quote

they have more flexibility to shift the

timing of their purchases to take

advantage of the tax break an option

that isn't available to families living

paycheck to paycheck so backpack

giveaways like this go a lot further for

families in need it's going to help me

during school because usually sometimes

at school like you need a lot of

notebooks and so

uh the salvation army is going to help

me with like like a lot of things that i

might need and that i can't get so yeah

i'm really grateful for what they've

given me i remember when my mom

tried to do the best

for our family

and i was very happy when i received

everything that i need to go to school

and

now i think the

kids

and every kid i see

my story

so it's wonderful

to see their faces

and i know

the heart

is laughing too the backpack giveaway is

expected to help roughly 250 children in

the community a great relief for

families knowing their kids will start

the school year off on the right track

for nj spotlight news i'm melissa rose

cooper

major funding for chasing the dream is

provided by the jpb foundation

with additional funding from the peter g

peterson and joan ganz cooney fund

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