Kosciusko County residents are about to benefit from a national backpack giveaway campaign.

The Cellular Connection, the largest Verizon premium wireless retailer in the U.S., in a joint effort with its customers, will be donating 60,000 backpacks full of school supplies to children through its School Rocks Backpack Giveaway Initiative. Locally, backpacks will be given away between noon and 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, at The Cellular Connection store on SR 15 in Warsaw (in front of Kohl’s).

Each participating TCC store will donate between 100 and 150 backpacks. Any leftover backpacks will be donated to local schools.

More than 400 participating TCC stores across the U.S. are inviting local families to bring their children to the store for a backpack. The backpacks will be filled with pencils, paper, a pencil box, folders, and glue. Backpacks will be given away on a first-come, first-serve basis, while supplies last.

Area residents have also joined the cause. Since the beginning of May, TCC customers have been given the option to round their purchases up the nearest dollar with the difference going directly toward the School Rocks Giveaway.

According to the National Retail Federation, the average person with children in grades K-12 will spend $95.44 on school supplies. On top of that, nearly 16 million children in the U.S. live in poverty.