BOSTON -- Back to school is an expensive time for parents with bookbags and school supplies adding up.

Groups Collect Backpacks For Homeless Students

It's particularly tough for local homeless families deciding between clothing and food. Many are forced to make tough decisions.

But NewsCenter 5's Bianca de la Garza reports that the kindness of strangers is making this school year brighter for some children.

"It was stuffed with markers, pencils, erasers, everything."

Everything Jaden Swift needed for school this year was in a backpack that was a gift from a stranger. A gift that truly touched her mother.

"They gave my daughter the backpack. It was like Christmas time. It upsets me because I'm her mom and I should be doing it for her," Caroline Swift said.

Caroline Swift can't do it because she is homeless. Like other moms, she is living at a Worcester shelter.

"A little bit means a lot to us. It means a lot," she said.

City Councilor Kate Toomey created a backpack drive because this year the need for donations even greater

"It could be happening to you, your neighbor, a child's classmate," she said.

Backpack drives across the state are helping many homeless and needy families.

In Boston, volunteers loaded 400 backpacks donated by employees of the Ropes and Gray law firm, which has participated in the drive for 10 years.

The Worcester program started three years ago. There are drop-off locations across the city. You can spend as much you can afford. Everything is appreciated."

"It's Hannah Montana!" one child said.

"What a great way to start a child off who's already dealing with a difficult time -- not having their own pillow at night, not having their own room, not having a space to study properly" Toomey said.

I think people assume because you're in a shelter you're a drug addict you're an alcoholic. There's other circumstances that bring you to a shelter," she said.

Circumstances beyond the control of many children who are heading back to school this fall.

"Thank you very much. I wanted a special backpack and now I have one," Jaden Swift said.