Volunteers Jordan Renaud of Estero High and Alex Greenberg of Canterbury helped to carry backpacks filled with school supplies to the curbside distribution area at the Multicultural Centre of SWFL’s 22nd Annual BIG Backpack Event. (Photo courtesy of the Multicultural Centre of SWFL) The Multicultural Centre hosted its annual Big Backpack Event Sunday in Fort Myers. Two-thousand backpacks, each stuffed with school supplies, for kids ages 5 to 12 were given out. Families also received a bag of groceries. This is the 22nd year for the event, and organizers say the kids’ reactions never get old. “The reason we keep coming back in our 22nd year of doing this event now is really those kids and those families. Every year the kids and families, the smiles on their faces, the gratitude, the appreciation they have I mean, every year, it’s a tough year,” said Connie Ramos Williams, event public relations and marketing chair. More than 150 volunteers worked the event over a two-day period, preparing the backpacks and grocery bags, then distributing them. Community Cooperative donated 17 pallets of food to be distributed. Nearly 40,000 backpacks have been distributed to families over the event’s 22-year history. The event draws thousands of people in attendance each year, with the largest crowd reaching 15,000 during the height of the recession back in 2008.