Episode 11: Stuff the Backpack: A Conversation with Jenn Kiser

Stuff the Backpack, a partnership between NBC4 and United Way of Central Ohio, celebrates the power of our central Ohio community that shows up for kids in a big way. In this episode, host Michael Wilkos talks with Jenn Kiser of NBC4 about the importance of volunteers, partners and neighbors coming together to provide backpacks and school supplies for more than 240,000 students over the years. Tune in to find out why this simple act makes such a meaningful difference on the first day of school and how you can get involved. 

Go to liveunitedcentralohio.org to donate or volunteer!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Yeah, I'm eating Mike and Ikees, which is a big supporter of United Way.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

I love Mike and Ike. Do you?

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Do you also like hot tamales?

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

What about peeps?

SPEAKER_00 0:10

No.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Peeps, Mike and Ikees, and Hot Tamales are all made by the same company based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

I think I knew the Bethlehem part. My husband, though, is a big Peeps fan. He does not like the other two. So between the two of us, then you've got the trifecta in the house.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

You've got the company covered. Yes. Yeah. Welcome back to So Let's Talk Columbus. I'm Michael Wilkos, Vice President of Community Engagement at United Way of Central Ohio. Here's something I want you to think about. That first day of school, the new backpack, the fresh set of crayons, the nerves, and the excitement. For a lot of kids in Central Ohio, that first day looks a little different. They show up without the supplies on the list. And when a child doesn't have what they need, it doesn't just affect their first day, it affects their confidence, focus, and ability to learn. Here's why that matters. Reading proficiency by the end of third grade is the single greatest predictor of whether a child will graduate from high school. Students not reading at grade level by third grade are four times more likely to drop out. That's not just a school problem, that's a community problem. We also know from the new Alice data that nearly two out of five families with young children in Central Ohio are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working and doing everything right, but when the cost of BASIC keeps outpacing wages, a backpack in school supplies can genuinely be out of reach. That's exactly the gap that's today's guest set out to fill. Jen Kaiser is the Director of Operations at NBC4WCMH, and she is the heart and engine behind Stuff the Backpack, a campaign she built from scratch that has now equipped more than 240,000 students with what they need to show up ready to learn, driven entirely by volunteers every single year. United Wave of Central Ohio is proud to be a co-sponsor, and this year we're hosting our stuffing event at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday, August 4th. And our goal is to surpass last year's 850 volunteers who stuffed over 10,000 backpacks. Jen, welcome to So Let's Talk Columbus. Thanks for having me. Jen, before we get into all things stuff the backpack, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you ended up at NBC 4.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Oh my, that was a while ago. Um I was a student at Ohio State and um had just been accepted into the School of Medical Communications and was also uh trying to achieve a theater minor.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

That's an interesting combination.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

It is an interesting combination. In my theater class, a friend of mine wanted to get together a demo reel because she wanted to go to Channel 4 to see if she could get some commercial work for them. She put the reel together, or I put the reel together for her. She took it in. And Ron Prang, who is the commercial production person there, did not give her a job, but he said, Hey, whoever did your reel, I've got an internship. Nice. Have call me. I called. What the heck? Why not? And during my time as an intern, a part-time job opened up, and Ron recommended me for it. And I thought, well, why not?

SPEAKER_01 3:41

And you've been there ever since.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

And I've been there ever since.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

So how many years now at MBC for um 39.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

You don't meet too many people that have had a career that spans four decades at the same employer. That is correct. You are a special person for that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

We've got a handful at the station. I'm proud to be one of them.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Nice. So let's go back to the beginning. It's 2018. How did Stuff the Backpack get started? Was there a moment or conversation that made you say, quote, we have to do something about this?

SPEAKER_00 4:15

It is not as beautiful as that. I'm sorry. The station actually in 2018 was approached by a client who asked if we would consider doing a back-to-school drive. They wanted to sponsor something like that in the room. I was the only one sitting there who had been there long enough to remember when the station did use to do backpack drives and back to school drives. We hadn't done it in a decade or more. And so in discussing it internally, we wanted to make sure that we were making an impact. We didn't know how many, it had been so long. We didn't know how many people were going to show up. We didn't know what kind of supplies we were going to get. What do you do if you've got 150 things donated? Who are you going to give it to? So I did a little research, found out at that time Columbus City Schools was uh the largest district in the state with the highest need population. And I contacted them and uh two of my colleagues and I went down and met with them and and asked if they if they would want to be the recipient of any kind of back-to-school effort that we did. It was a really quick yes on their part. I I was I was worried they were gonna say no. And during the as we were talking now, I said, do you what would you hope for? And uh the reply I got was they would love it if every single Columbus City School student started the first day of school with a backpack and the basic essentials a piece of paper, a pen, a pencil, because that was gonna help them succeed. Yeah. Sorry. Um and I said, Well, how many students do you have? And they said 50,000. I said, Well, that'll be our goal for this year. And it was our goal. It was our goal, and we worked with community partners. Uh I'm gonna rewind here in a minute, but worked very hard. It was a very crazy summer, and we hit 50,000. Wow. Um, the rewind on that was after I got back to the station, my first call was to Cheryl Nelson to ask her if United Way would work with us on this. Because I did recognize that the station is not a nonprofit. We are a business. We could not take monetary donations, which I also knew was going to be part of the need for this campaign to succeed. And Cheryl met with the folks internally here, and United Way joined immediately.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

That's great. So uh that's a great segue in that you know, when people who don't know NBC4's history of community engagement in Columbus, can you give us a sense of the station's role in this community and why a new station would even take something like this on? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Um NBC4, Channel 4, WCMH, for people who've been in the community, they know by all three of those, um has a longtime commitment to the community. We've done toy drives for over 40 years. We are, we have been one of the founding members of the 501c3 that's called Red, White, and Boom. And we are one of the longtime people that write the check to put those fireworks on, along with WNCI and GJ Pepsi. Uh and a lot of the community doesn't realize that. We worked very closely with the Mid Ohio Food Collective on what's become one of their largest fundraising events, W Your Donation Day. These are these are things that we believe in. We have a force army when there's a need that is we identify flood relief. Um we will put out a call and do fundraisers on a dime, turn it on a dime. That's nice. Because it's part of who we are.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

And so this is an all-volunteer initiative, no paid staff running this campaign, and that's really remarkable. Uh, what did year one look like and how did people respond?

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Year one was crazy. And as I said, to my two colleagues, Josh Combs and Jasmine Logan, we were the three J's of Stuff the Backpack, kind of uh uh working through the station. We were accepting donations wherever we could. We were order, you know, ordering supplies multiple times that year through night through United Way's help. And we didn't really have a location, so we had everything delivered to the station.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Oh my!

SPEAKER_00 9:02

And we were not really well liked at the time because our hallways were lined with book bags, our studios were lined with book bags. I mean, people had to move some boxes sometimes to get towards the bathrooms. Um, but we we just kind of made it up as we went along.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

That's always the best way to do it, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Yes, in year two, Columbus City Schools stepped in and helped us, uh, provided us a space to take the take all the donations, organize sorting, and it helped us evolve.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

So you mentioned that right out of the gate, United Way said yes. What made you reach out to United Way in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

At that time, we had done something with United Way recently, and Cheryl was in my contacts, and I just picked up the vine and called her. Nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

So eight years later, and 240,000 students. Let's talk about the growth of the campaign. In 2024, the campaign crossed uh 200,000 backpacks distributed, and by 2025, that number went to 240,000 students served just in the last eight years. When you see a number like that, what goes through your mind?

SPEAKER_00 10:22

I know it's not enough. 2018 and 2019, we did a big shift. One of the things we recognized in 2018, um, Columbus City schools, some kids were getting two backpacks because they were showing up at school, but then we had a backpack there waiting for them. Um so we knew we needed to look at making sure there wasn't duplication because there were still kids who were in need. We also had to recognize that we were television stations serving 22 counties in central Ohio. And so we wanted to expand because we knew we had a number that we could, some kids had duplication, we could shift those numbers to more districts. So again, we went back and looked, looked at, I met with um ESC, the Education Service Center for Ohio for the state of Ohio, and and was able to identify, you know, within Franklin County and Lickin County, we could impact over half of the DMA population in our service area in just those two counties. What's DMA? It's our broadcast area.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Um and so we knew that in our 22 counties, just by helping two counties, we were gonna help be able to try and help half of the student population in year two.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

So the campaign now serves school districts in Franklin, Licking, Union, and Fairfield counties. Um how did it and how quickly did it expand beyond Columbus City schools and what drove that growth?

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Well, the the drive was that we knew we needed to serve our entire community, the entire NBC 4 community, which was beyond Columbus City schools. Year two, we grow grew to two. Um and then we wanted to grow again, but 2020 was a little bit of a different year. Yeah, let's talk about that. It was. Um we couldn't do we couldn't do drive-throughs, we couldn't do get we couldn't have volunteers gathered in a space and organize and sort and stuff. Um, so we shifted to definitely more of a financial request from the community, and then uh I was able to work with CAS, um, who is just down the street from the station, who has a very large campus. Uh, and for those of you who have been in the community a long time, you may remember it as chemical abstracts. Right. Yes. I know they allowed me to have my deliveries of 25,000 bags done at their campus. I did, I had that year we had to order pre-stuffed bags. So um I was able to have them delivered to their campus and I could sort them out and space them out enough so that we the the schools could come in their unit and pick things up and take them safely. And so that was how we did uh 2020 and 2021.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

And now you're up to 850 volunteers. That's how many people came last year to Nationwide Arena.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Well, there's the one little secret with that is the 850 volunteers at Nationwide Arena are only a part of the volunteers.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Because NBC 4 has its own private stuffing event.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

At Ease Logistics in Union County, where the other half of the bags are stuffed.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

And how many volunteers are at that site?

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Well, I'm kind of a taskmaster, so probably only have 150.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Wow, you get a lot done. We do. Very efficient machine. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

But that takes us up to a thousand volunteers.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

So it's a $10 donation that covers one full backpack with supplies. Uh, it's such a compelling ask. Many donors opt to donate enough for an entire classroom or $270. What have you learned about the generosity of our community over the years through this event?

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Oh my, I will say this, and this goes way back before Stuff the Backpack. When I think of the Toy Drives, the W Donation Day, the Ford Army call to action because there's a need, our community gives. And I never doubt that they won't give.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

I know that the Columbus Foundation does a benchmarking study every uh couple years. And one of the things that they compare our city to about 20 other U.S. cities that are comparably sized, and what Columbus always uh shines is the amount of volunteerism that comes from our community. And so it's nice to see that consistent thread of volunteerism kind of across the community, and certainly for this event. But it's also the corporate partners play a huge role and stuff the backpack. Uh, what does that kind of community-wide buy-in feel like? And what does that tell you about the Columbus community?

SPEAKER_00 15:50

It tells me that that on the on the corporate side, on the business side, it very aligned to the mission with MBC4, is that they are part of the community, and and they are giving back to the community and as they support this.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

So let's talk about kind of connecting this campaign to deeper need. Uh, let's talk about why this matters beyond the backpack itself. We know from the new Alice data that nearly two in five families with young children in Franklin County are living below the ALES threshold. They're working but can't afford the basic. School supplies are part of that equation. How do you think about the families this campaign is reaching?

SPEAKER_00 16:36

I believe every child deserves a good education. And I believe that they should not have a stigma attached to their school experience. And sitting down without without a piece of paper or pencil in and while other kids have it makes them stand out. Um and I don't want that. One other thing about this campaign is that we don't we don't distribute any bags to students directly. Okay. The bags go to the the school districts themselves to distribute within their community and the best way they feel worked for their community, their school community. And the bags are ordered in multiple colors and and so that there's no stigma bag.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Meaning that if all the stuff the backpacks were red, then you'd know that that backpack is coming from a yeah, so that when a child walks in the classroom, they don't look and say, Oh, you got a free bag. That's the free bag. No, the whole purpose is for every kid to just sit down and be able to start learning.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

So, you know, United Way talks a lot about success by third grade. The idea that reading proficiency by third grade is the greatest predictor of whether a child will graduate high school. And we know that kids who are hungry, who don't have stable housing, or who don't show up with the tools they need are already behind before the first bell rings. How does stuff the backpack connect to that bigger picture for you?

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Well, that it makes sure that they've got those tools before the bell rings. Um and for the parents, for the parents to know, oh, I can go get my kids shoes because I know the school's gonna have a bag waiting for them. Or I can pack their lunch because I want to pack their lunch on the first day because I know when they get to school, the school has a bag for them. Um, it's a relief. And honestly, it's a relief for the teachers too. Our teachers pay out of pocket for so much.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Yeah, I always hear those stories of teachers having to, you know, go to discount stores and buy things in bulk themselves in order to make sure kids have that equipped. So this is a real stress reliever for the teachers.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

And it's also a stress reliever in that that child who has the tools to be engaged won't be disruptive. They've got what they need. And they don't have to, they may not act out in the classroom, they're they're set to go with just like every other student.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Well, I got to tell you, just as a volunteer myself and stuffing the backpacks, I get excited about school just thinking about all the fun stuff that goes into a backpack. Yes. Not that I want to relive my early years in education. I'm just saying that it's it's nice to have a backpack full of supplies. And so, you know, there is something about a child showing up on the first day with a full backpack, the dignity of it. Uh, can you talk about what that means for kids and what have you heard from teachers or families over the years uh about what it actually does for a student?

SPEAKER_00 19:47

Everything I've heard, and and because I have no direct contact with the families, uh, everything is through the districts, is just gratitude for taking the time, taking the effort, having the interest in supporting the schools and supporting the students and supporting the teachers.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

You know, we talk a lot uh with guests on this show uh about the growth of the city. I mean, it's uh clearly it's an exciting time to be in Columbus. Uh, but that growth comes with unintended consequences. When that growth really isn't reaching everybody, I mean, I think the the other interesting thing is that for years a lot of people thought poverty and economic vulnerability was really just in Columbus, but that's really changed. It's moved across the metropolitan region. Um, how do you see campaigns like this fitting into that bigger story about what kind of city we want to be or should be?

SPEAKER_00 20:53

My first thought as you start as you were asking was is that concept that we do need to all keep our eyes open and recognize need is everywhere. And we shouldn't ignore it. Um and we need to look into what we can do to help with that, which is again stuff the backpack for me. As I think so much about the work the Mid Ohio Food Collective does too. It's it's another example of need is everywhere. Um and you don't know. You don't know the person sitting, the need of the person sitting next to you or the person that you pass as you're walking up the street. Hopefully they're not too proud to accept help.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

What keeps you motivated? Because this is not a small thing you're doing on the side. This is a campaign you've been building and growing year after year.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

I think I'm just crazy.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

In a good way.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Uh quite honestly, you can talk to anyone who I've I've hired because my staff gets assigned some. Work for this. And I explained to them there are things that you're going to do when you work for me that are not typical TV jobs. And you're correct. Josh and Jasmine and I would frequently talk about we are running a quasi-nonprofit at the station. But I just believe in it. And so I want to make sure it happens.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

What's the moment from this campaign or any year that you carry with you? A story, a face, something someone has said to you that sticks with you.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

Like you talked about the excitement that you got when with stuffing at your events. And they look forward, it's just how much they look forward to it. Obviously, I'm they're they're doing it. But just the enjoyment that everyone has when they're in that community doing that work together is really impactful.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

So I get to be on the floor of Nationwide Arena stuffing backpacks, and that just in and of itself is exciting because not too many people get to walk on the floor of Nationwide Arena. So there's a lot of excitement just that day. People are in good spirits, it's very kind of upbeat. You have a different experience where you're in a warehouse, but you stuff an incredible number of backpacks in a relatively short period of time. How do you get that all done?

SPEAKER_00 23:38

A lot of energy. And I take that into our stuffing event. And we have had through the years, we have had high school soccer teams, we have had the um fire cadets, we have had um just different or the organizations, the companies who uh support the CAS, uh, Amgen, bring their folks and we line them up and it's an assembly line, and it's like a competition who can get done first.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

And we go to town, and it is everyone just dives in and it is amazing. It's amazing to watch. And that's when I said, you know, those are some of the moments when I just step back and I see all these people, and we're just going and going and going, and the piles are just dwindling. And we're we've got stuffed backpacks.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

So, what would you want people in Columbus to understand about the families who receive these backpacks? What's the message you wish more people heard?

SPEAKER_00 24:53

This child deserves an equal start on the first day of school.

unknown 24:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

And then now let's talk about uh ways to get involved. Let's make sure everyone listening knows exactly how they can help. What are the ways our listeners can support stuff the backpack? You can donate $10, which covers one child's full backpack and supplies, and $270 covers a full classroom. Uh do you want to send people to the website?

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Yep, sure, nbc4i.com. And if you want to do more than that, we are happy to accept it.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Uh is there any special place on the website?

SPEAKER_00 25:36

nbc4i.com under the local free drop down, you will see stuff the backpack.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Okay. And folks can also go to liveunited centralohio.org. In addition to United Way of Central Ohio and MBC4, there's a lot of other sponsors that make sure this event happens. Who are some of those other sponsors?

SPEAKER_00 25:56

We have phenomenal support from our community. Um, it starts with the Franklin County Board of Commissioners, CAS, Amgen, Amazon, Polaris Fashion Mall, Giant Eagle, Hexion, Honda of America, the Olivia Clare O'Brocta Foundation, Bailey Cavalleri, JP Morgan Chase, Coda, GBQ, Central Ohio Labor Council, AFL CIO, UPIC, BESA, Ease Logistics, Nationwide Arena, UPS, and of course Grange Insurance.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Wow, that's a lot of corporate. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Well, it's a big event. And if folks would like to sign up to be a volunteer, they could go to bessa.org, that's B-E-S-A.org to sign up to be a volunteer for the actual event on August 4th.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

The other thing, if there's anyone listening out there who has a business who would like to support, we would love to hear from you. Um you can email me at j-k-i-s-er at wcmh.com. I would love to speak with you.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

When you think about the fact that it's just ten dollars to fill a backpack, that's the cost of a you know special latte these days. Uh but if you'd like to donate, uh you can go to live united centralohio.org. And Jen, how would they find out NBC?

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Um, folks can also go to nbc4i.com and under the local for you drop down, you will see stuff the backpack.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Um what would you say to someone who thinks it's just a backpack, it's a small thing. What would you want them to understand about what this backpack actually means?

SPEAKER_00 27:44

I would go back to what we've talked about before. It means a child being set to be engaged in their learning experience from day one.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

And it sets the child up for success.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

So if there's something Jen said that I want everyone to carry with them, it's just a backpack until it isn't. Until it's the reason a child walks into the classroom feeling like they belong, like they have what it takes, like someone out there was thinking about them before they even knew their name. That's what 240,000 students and counting have felt because of this campaign. And it happened because one person at a TV station decided to do something about it, and an entire city decided to show up. So thank you, Jen.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Thank you. Can I add though, I it's not one person.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

Well, I want to give you some credit.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

And I appreciate that, but it really is it's a mission of a whole group of people, and it would not be successful without everybody.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

I I appreciate that. Uh sharing of the credit. But, you know, this is what United Way of Central Ohio believes in that when we come together, we can change what's possible for families in this community. Stuff the backpack is one of the most visible examples of that belief in action. So, Jen, thank you for reminding all of us what it looks like when Columbus decides a kid should never have to show up unprepared. And to everyone listening, you can be a backpack hero as well. Again, go to nbc4i.com or liveunited centralohio.org to donate, volunteer, or get your organization involved. If this episode made you want to act, act. Share it, donate, show up. Until next time, remember there's not a problem Columbus can't fix.