Starbucks, Boys & Girls Clubs of KC partner for back-to-school event

With the start of the 2024-25 school year here, USTA Heart of America is featuring a Starbucks back-to-school community event that provided students supplies for the year ahead.

It’s August, and the start of school is top of mind for many families. While this can be an exciting time for kids and their parents, it can be stressful for those who might not be able to afford school supplies.

Starbucks and its ALL.IN initiative has partnered with local charitable organizations across the country to address this all-too-common issue by hosting back-to-school drives to collect school supplies. After the supplies are collected, local Starbucks locations work to distribute the supplies to children in need.

Kansas City was one of the cities selected to host an ALL.IN event this year in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City. On Aug. 2, the organization hosted a special event at Cleveland Park to celebrate the end of summer and to deliver free school supplies to children to set them up for a successful school year ahead.

USTA Heart of America was proud to be part of the fun. Rebecca Falkner Axelrod, USTA Heart of America executive director, was on hand for the event. She was thrilled to see so many families having a great time.

“The community event was amazing,” Falkner Axelrod said. “It was great to introduce so many kids to the sport and be a part of their back-to-school celebration. We had a great time introducing tennis and cannot wait to do more events in the community.”

The Delta Sigma Theta sorority was a big help in collecting and distributing supplies, which included backpacks, notebooks, pens, pencils, folders, crayons and much more.

There were several fun activities for children to participate in. Children and their families enjoyed tours of a police helicopter and a fire truck while a DJ played family-friendly tunes for all to enjoy. KC Wolf, the Kansas City Chiefs' mascot, mingled with attendees and tried his hand at tennis.

USTA Heart of America wants to wish all students a great school year! We hope it’s the best yet.