Pulsating DJ music filled the air, hot dogs and hamburgers filled the bellies, and backpacks with school supplies filled the needs of hundreds of students at the third annual UFT back-to-school supplies giveaway and barbecue on Aug. 14 at PS 21 in the Elm Park section of Staten Island.

The event has grown exponentially each summer. “I started this the first summer we were back in person after COVID because I felt we needed to give people a reason to go out and celebrate and be excited to go back into the school building,” UFT Staten Island Parent and Community Outreach Liaison Marie Rodriguez said. “We gave out 300 backpacks that first year, last year 500 and this year 800.”

Those UFT backpacks — complete with notebooks, pens, pencils, hand sanitizer, tissues and folders from the union’s Dial-A-Teacher and BRAVE anti-bullying programs — were gone after the first 75 minutes of the two-hour event. The 32 community-based vendors supporting the event filled the gap with more supplies.

“A lot of our families, especially on the North Shore of the island, I believe are struggling even more than when we came out of COVID,” Rodriguez said. “There’s really a strong need for support.”

Maria Sowan, the president of the Staten Island Federation of PTAs, attended for the first time and was blown away by how many parents and students packed the huge schoolyard.

“It was amazing,” Sowan said. “People might think the UFT is only for teachers and union work, but it goes out to help families. That’s why our organization supports the UFT in whatever way we can.”

The North Shore Alliance, one of the union’s partners, set up a kindergarten resource fair that included a school bus so new kindergartners could experience riding one prior to the school year. Staples, the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office and New York Cares distributed other supplies. The New York Center for Interpersonal Development provided the hot dogs and hamburgers. MetroPlusHealth provided an ice cream truck, while District 31 helped staff the event with the borough’s parent coordinators.

Marian Soliman, a substitute paraprofessional at PS 78 on Staten Island, brought her two children.

“This was my first time attending a UFT event, and it was such a happy, cheerful and sweet day,” Soliman said. “The children loved the supplies they received.”