TAMPA, Fla., (WFLA) — Dozens of volunteers for The Bullard Foundation spent their Saturday morning building 15,000 backpacks for students in need.

With summer flying by, families are getting ready for another first day of school. To help relieve some of the stress, the Bullard Family Foundation is hosting its 8th annual Back-to-School Bash.

“It’s an opportunity for us to continue to invest in our community, invest in our kids, invest in these teachers. I get so frustrated every time that I see these teachers have to buy school supplies out of their own money, on top of not getting paid what they should be getting paid,” said Thaddeus Bullard, Bullard Family Foundation.

Volunteers put in several hours on Saturday to make the thousands of backpacks for the children.

“Reality is, the first day of school, we’re all sitting in seats, but where we came from is not always going to be the same thing. So, this levels the playing field and it’s a great opportunity for us to show we can all come together as a community, support our students as a whole. There are 225,000 students in Hillsborough County, so this is a great opportunity to provide 15,000 of them with backpacks and supplies for that first day,” said Chris Farkas, Hillsborough County Public Schools.

One by one, each backpack was filled with notebooks and other school supplies for students.

“Every kid deserves the chance to start the school year off on the right foot and we want to give them their best chance at being successful in the school year and that starts with having the right school supplies,” said Sam Garateix, a volunteer.

“You never know what one of these backpacks is going to do for a particular person,” Bullard said.

The Back-to-School Bash is not just an opportunity for kids to get the supplies they need, but a chance for the entire family to check up on their health.

“If we can help serve the families by doing blood pressure checks, mammograms, etc. while the kids are getting served, whether they’re getting a haircut, whether they’re getting their teeth cleaned or whatever it may be. We can really equip these kids to go back to school more confident,” Bullard said.

The school supply giveaway and Back-to-School Bash will be on Saturday, July 26. For more details, click here.