- December 4, 2025
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When Sarasota resident Jessica Seper attended her first Suncoast Builders Association Young Professionals event in 2015, she was inspired to make a difference.
There were three backpacks that were filled with school supplies to be donated to kids in need. She knew that she could do much better.
For the last 10 years the “Stuff the Backpack” event has been led by Seper, who now works as the deputy executive officer and the director of membership/councils and committees for the Suncoast Builders Association.
The Suncoast Builders Association has increased the number of backpacks it has donated every year. In 2016 there were 75. Last year, the SBA donated 500 and this year that number doubled to 1,000 backpacks. One hundred volunteers helped to fill the backpacks in an hour on June 26 at Gold Coast Eagle.
A donation of $20 sponsored one backpack for a child in need. The backpacks were filled with all of the essentials, such as colored pencils, pens, pencils, composition notebooks, folders, highlighters, magic erase markers and erasers. They were split evenly and donated to Boys & Girls Clubs of Manatee County and Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties.
Seper said the SBA allows the Boys & Girls clubs to decide how to distribute the backpacks.
The Young Professionals is just one of the Suncoast Builders Association's any councils and committees that give back to the community.
Sarasota resident Tracy Eisnaugle is the chair of the Professional Women in Building chair. It was her first time to lead a committee.
“It was overwhelming until we were here (the day before the event) and then I think once the setup was done, it felt like it was going to be easy,” Eisnaugle said. “The set-up is great and I can't wait to see the backpacks all stuffed. It's going to be overwhelming and powerful.”
Eisnaugle’s jumped up and down with enthusiasm as she saw hundreds of backpacks stacked up.
Lakewood Ranch resident Megan Schroeder serves as the Young Professional Committee co-chair. She was part of the team to cold call businesses and ask for donations so the group could donate as many backpacks and supplies as possible. She was a volunteer for the event last year and helped distribute the backpacks to kids in Sarasota County.
"We're we just like, 'Take a backpack, it's for you,'" Schroeder said about delivering the backpacks last year. "They're like 'Take a backpack?' Sometimes it was funny because they took a long time to pick out what color they wanted. That was the cutest part."
“I feel amazed by the amount of support that this community has gathered for the kids and for our clubs,” said Kelli Dixon, the chief development officer at Boys & Girls Clubs of Manatee County. “We're just excited.
Dixon said the event was organized well and it was apparent that the “people are happy to serve.”
Sara Howe is the senior director of advancement at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties. Howe said it was amazing to see the turnout and she appreciated how fast they worked to accomplish their goal.
“It’s instrumental for the kiddos in our communities to know that they have people who are supporting them and making sure that they're getting back to school ready,” Howe said. “Not having any barriers to the tools and resources that they might need to succeed in the classroom is important. We're thrilled to be able to partner with them today.”
The thousand backpacks were packed into just two vehicles — Sarasota had a mini bus and Manatee had an oversized van. It was a process of stacking and shoving, just like packing for a family road trip.
Seper said that as her group is made up of builders and developers, the public can tend to paint them as the bad guys.
She wants it to be known that they do have hearts, and they do care about the community.
“We do build for new families to come here and we also want to be able to support those families by giving back to them,” Seper said. “If backpacks are a way that we can give back, then that's what we’ll do.”
