Northern Kentucky Harvest ninth annual Backpacks and Breakfast event on Saturday will provide backpacks loaded with school supplies for children from poor families. (Getty Image)

Northern Kentucky students from low-income families can prepare for the new school year through one of the area's largest backpack and school supply giveaways.

Organizers plan to give away a record 860 backpacks stuffed with school supplies at the ninth annual Backpacks and Breakfast Saturday morning in Covington's Goebel Park. The event is open to students in kindergarten through grade 12 from low-income families in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties.

Parents should bring a photo ID for themselves, medical cards or Social Security cards for their children and a piece of mail with their current address.

Besides the backpack giveaway, participants can enjoy free breakfast from Frisch's restaurant and Trauth Dairy and free pony rides from the Covington Recreation Commission.

The primary sponsor is Northern Kentucky Harvest, a non-profit, all-volunteer organization founded in 1999 that provides food, clothing and school supplies to low-income residents of Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties.

"Last year, we gave away 716 backpacks and that was the first year we ever ran out, so this year we've increased the number of backpacks substantially," said Paul Gottbrath, president of Northern Kentucky Harvest.

In 2001, Northern Kentucky Harvest started the program when volunteers bought 150 backpacks, stuffed them with school supplies, and spread the word that they'd be given away in Goebel Park on a Saturday morning.

"The event takes place rain or shine," Gottbrath said. "Four years ago, families representing more than 400 kids turned out in a driving rain."

Gottbrath said many of the families served by Backpacks and Breakfast are faced with a choice of purchasing school supplies or letting basic needs slide.

To keep up with the demand, Northern Kentucky Harvest has partnered with organizations such as the Robert M. Butler Foundation, which has been a major underwriter of the event for the past two years. Other partners are Frisch's, Trauth Dairy, Be Concerned, Brighton Center, and Henry Hosea House, the Summertime Kids program, the Helen Steiner Rice Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, the Diocese of Covington, Immanuel United Methodist Church and its vacation Bible school, St. Joseph Church in Cold Spring and St. Timothy Catholic Church and Lakeside Christian Church.