Savannah-Chatham Police Chief Joseph Lumpkin accepted a donation of 150 backpacks with school supplies from Savannah College of Art and Design President Paula Wallace on Monday for Savannah Impact Program's Stuff the Container initiative. This is the third year in a row SCAD employees and students pledged their support for this initiative that helps families in the community get back-to-school supplies.

Accompanied by project supporters and volunteers, Lumpkin accepted the donation at SIP's office located at 1700 Drayton Street.

The first week of July, a storage container was placed outside of the SIP office. The goal was to fill the entire container with donated items by the end of July. Donations will be distributed to families at SIP's National Night Out event from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday.

"Some parents don't have the money to buy school uniforms and supplies every year," said Cpl. Mark McCartha, organizer of this initiative. "We do this drive to help kids in our community have a successful school year."

SIP staff plan to make a party out of National Night Out with a cookout, where school supplies and uniforms will be made available to participants. There will also be fun activities for the youth such as bounce houses and a dunk booth.

SIP also plans to provide bags of donated food items and hygiene products to the homeless at its National Night Out event.

SIP is a specialized unit within the Savannah-Chatham police department that is primarily focused on high-risk and at-risk youth and adults. The SIP collaborative is composed of sworn and civilian police personnel as well as numerous community supervision agencies.