Zachary Silow works to organize backpacks that are part of a Sunday school bag giveaway event at the Verizon Wireless store at 1600 N. Riverside Ave. in Medford. The giveaway will also be held at another Medford Verizon store and two stores on Grants Pass, along with Verizon outlets around the country.

Backpacks and school supplies aplenty will be handed out at four Verizon stores in Medford and Grants Pass at 1 p.m. Sunday.

The free giveaway program is organized by The Cellular Connection, Verizon Wireless’ largest authorized retailer, with the retailer organizing backpack programs across the United States.

The four local giveaway locations include Verizon stores at 1315 Center Drive in south Medford, 1600 N. Riverside Ave. in north Medford, 142 NE. Terry Lane in Grants Pass, and 498 Union Ave., Grants Pass.

Parents must bring their kids with them to the Verizon store to participate. The event will operate on a first-come, first-served basis at participating stores, and one school bag per child will be given away.

“I believe my district has 350 backpacks this year,” said Andrew Parolee, district manager for Verizon.

The TCC Backpack Giveaway is approaching its 11th year of handing out school bags and supplies to families across the U.S. This year, 1,162 locations are participating in the program with a total of 130,000 backpacks to be handed out, according to Verizon. Twenty-one stores in Oregon are participating, including the two in Medford and two in Grants Pass.

On average, families spend about $864 on school supplies each year, and one in five school-aged children live in poverty, according to the The Cellular Connection website.

“The backpack giveaway is one of our biggest events every year nationwide,” Parolee said.

Retailers will hand out 150 to 250 school bags per store with supplies such as pencils, erasers, colored pencils and other goods.

“Honestly watching the kids pick out the packs is the coolest part,” Parolee said. “Seeing their faces light up is honestly my favorite part about the event.”

“I’m just excited to see the turnout and impact on the community,” Verizon technical assistant Zachary Silow said.