SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – We’re still more than a month away from classes being back in session, but stores are already filling up with back-to-school supplies.

That means Project S.O.S . in Sioux Falls has also started up again too.

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“I have been doing S.O.S. with the banquet for like 15 years. I love it,” volunteer Theresa Sparrow said.

Project S.O.S is the Banquet’s annual back-to-school giveaway.

“So it stands for ‘supply our students.’ Every year we give out a brand new backpack and school supplies to children whose parents cannot afford those items,” Tamera Jerke-Liesinger, Executive Director of The Banquet, said.

And every year the Banquet gets help from the community to fill those backpacks.

“When you see their faces when they get the backpacks, they’re just so excited and so it makes you feel great,” Sparrow said. “So anything that I can do to help or we can do to help as a group makes things go easier for the Banquet and gets more kids backpacks. The more we can give out, the better the kids are.”

If you’re unable to volunteer your time to Project S.O.S., you can always donate school supplies. The most in-demand items this year are composition books.

“Those are the slowest things to come in the doors and every grade for Sioux Falls public needs them,” Jerke-Liesinger said. “So composition books would be greatly appreciated.”

A simple notebook and some colored pencils can help any child be successful in the classroom.

“There are few things more gratifying than handing a small child a brand new backpack full of school supplies and seeing the look on their face as they get ready to go to school that first day,” Jerke-Liesinger said.

The backpacks will be distributed in the beginning of August. If you’d like to register for a backpack, click here .

If you’d like to volunteer with Project S.O.S., click here .

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