The first day of school inspires a variety of emotions for children and their families — excitement, anticipation and even nervousness. This is especially true for the Northwest’s nearly 20,000 foster children who are often entering a new home with a new family and starting at a new school with unfamiliar teachers and peers.

To help ease first-day jitters and to ensure foster kids are set up for a successful school year, Sleep Country — which has a Redmond location at 16760 Redmond Way — is hosting its annual School Supply Drive for Foster Kids now through Sept. 6.

“We believe kids should be excited for the start of a new school year as they look forward to learning new things, seeing old friends and making new ones. For many foster children, however, their worries about fitting in and keeping up overtake the excitement of the first day back to school,” said Gina Davis, vice president of branding at Sleep Country. “Our community can help make sure foster kids have the tools they need to keep up with their peers in the classroom by making a simple donation of essential school supply items to this drive. It’s a donation for the first day of school and for their ongoing educational success.”

What do foster children need most? The most frequently requested items from Sleep Country’s nonprofit foster organization partners are backpacks, three-ring binders, packs of pens and pencils, flash drives, multi-subject notebooks and loose leaf paper.

How can the community give back? Sleep Country will be collecting new school supplies at every store location. Additionally, community members and businesses can host their own drive at work, school, church or among friends and family, using the needed tools at www.sleepcountryfosterkids.org.

And those who don’t have time to shop can make a donation online and Sleep Country representatives will buy school supplies on their behalf. All donations will be distributed through Sleep Country’s nonprofit partner organizations in the Northwest.