North St. Bags wants your used panniers for their Back to School Bag Drive

If you’re like me you’ve accumulated a mountain of assorted bags and packs after years of cycling: I’ve got different bags for commuting and grocery runs, bikecamping adventures, working remotely, shooting photos, race weekends — and then there’s all the swag I’ve collected from industry events and conferences. The list goes on!

Now there’s something productive I can do with bags I don’t need anymore.

Portland-based North St. Bags has partnered with Schoolhouse Supplies for a donation drive that will benefit low-income students as they prep for the school year. North St. Bags is a Portland business success story and their panniers have become nearly ubiquitous in local bikeways. Schoolhouse Supplies is a nonprofit that supports public school students by giving them free pencils, pens, notebooks, bags, and other things they need to learn.

To help reach more kids, North St. Bags will host bag donation drives on two weekends — July 19th through 21st and August 2nd through 4th — at their headquarters on the corner of Southeast Hawthorne and Poplar (1551 SE Poplar Ave). Just show up and drop off your gently-used (leave the badly stained and strained ones at home) bags, backpacks and panniers and North St. will box them up and take them to Schoolhouse Supplies.

Besides being a prime opportunity to give back to the community, the bag drive is also a great chance to pick up a new bag at a discounted price: Each person who donates a backpack or bag will receive a coupon for 15% off any North St. Bag, valid through the end of August. North St. Bags will also donate 10% of all online and in-store sales between July 19th and August 2nd to Schoolhouse Supplies.

Don’t be too cool for school. Grab a few of your old bags and schlep them over to North St. Bags this weekend (or next). Check out the Facebook event link for more info.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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