Starting school for the first time is nerve-wracking enough, much less entering the classroom without the right supplies – or perhaps none at all. But that is where Courtney Feltus and other volunteers from the Natchez chapter of Junior Auxiliary come in.

As part of a project dubbed Operation Backpack, J.A. members have filled backpacks with almost all of the school supplies the system’s kindergarten and first grade students need.

&uot;Not things like Kleenex, but the essentials like colors, scissors, glue and writing tablets,&uot;&160;Feltus said, who is now in her second year as a member of the Junior Auxiliary chapter.

This year, Feltus is serving as chairman for the Operation Backpack project.

In all, the volunteers filled 240 backpacks, with West and Frazier primary schools getting 120 packs each.

The backpacks are being distributed at the schools this week to students who arrive without supplies.

Each teacher makes a list of children without school supplies and goes to the school’s office to receive the number of backpacks her class needs.

As a kindergarten teacher at West Primary School for seven years, Feltus has seen firsthand how much the project is needed.

&uot;Lots of children come in with no school supplies at all. They see that other children have backpacks, but they don’t,&uot;&160;Feltus said.

&uot;So it’s a big boost for them when they get a backpack of their own. They’re really excited.&uot;