Over the last 22 years, St. Bart’s School’s Cool Ministry has partnered with Banyan Community to fill thousands of backpacks with school supplies and provide uniforms to youth in the PhillipsSchool's Cool Backpack recipient neighborhood of south Minneapolis. One of the many results of your support are the 70 graduates from DeLaSalle, a college prep high school!

It all starts with a backpack, uniform, and school supplies to ensure our K-12 youth are prepared to succeed in school. Banyan kids work hard and are supported by their parents and the Banyan programs year-round – but also by YOU!

We invite you to consider supporting School’s Cool. Banyan families and staff are looking forward the 22-23 school year. This year we are asking for your financial support, and the School’s Cool team will do all the shopping! This will allow the team to leverage bulk purchasing, and, if you’d like, you can be a volunteer shopper to help get the best deals. Reach out to Sue for more information on how to get involved.

The School’s Cool team is hoping to support all 145 Banyan youth this year with your help. Any level of support is welcome, but this is how it breaks down:

  • $125 covers a backpack and school supplies for 1 Banyan youth
  • $200 covers the uniform essentials for 1 Banyan youth attending a Catholic school
  • $325 covers a backpack, school supplies and uniforms for 1 Banyan youth
  • $650 covers a backpack, school supplies and uniforms for 2 Banyan youth

There are two ways to support School’s Cool:

  1. You can send a check payable to Banyan Community by August 1st
  2. Contribute via credit card.

All donations are 100% tax deductible.