Bellevue Firefighters Community Support Foundation donated backpacks filled with school supplies to young teens and siblings of Youth Eastside Services’ (YES) Success Mentoring program. The youth were able to pick their backpacks at a special Back-to-School event held at YES’ Bellevue office last week.

This year, 60 young people and their siblings received supplies. The kids are all part of the YES Success Mentoring program which matches youth from single parent households with adults who want to make a positive impact in their lives.

The mentors, mentees and family members ate a pizza dinner, played games, and got to tour the ladder truck from nearby station 3. Firefighters were on hand to help with truck tours and engage with the kids.

Kids from the YES Latino HEAT program helped liven the festivities with free face painting. Latino HEAT stands for Hispaños En Ación Together and is a leadership, community service, and cultural empowerment group.

This is the 10th year the firefighters have supported YES youth with school supplies, and it’s one of the largest gifts the foundation makes each year. The foundation spared no expense and invested in high quality backpacks that will last, and included the all-important jump drives for teenagers.

“School supplies have gotten more expensive and technology driven,” said Melissa Galvez, the Success Program coordinator, “For many of these families, the costs are simply out of reach.”

“Having new backpacks and supplies before school starts positively impacts the kids’ self-esteem and sets the stage for more engagement in school,” Galvez said. She added that the Success Mentoring Program is always in need of additional volunteers to serve as mentors. Anyone interested in becoming a mentor can learn more by calling YES at 425-747-4937 or visiting youtheastsideservices.org.