Raytown student takes action as families feel impact of back-to-school costs

RAYTOWN, Mo. — A Raytown-area sixth grader is giving students a boost of confidence heading into the first day of school, all while parents navigate high prices on the back-to-school shopping list.

Kiyan Redmond designed a backpack filled with encouragement for students heading back to school. The backpack's lined with the message, "I am the bag — Can't nobody change who you are."

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For him, the project is personal.

"It makes me feel happy because other people and other kids can be happy with my backpacks and wear them a lot," he shared

Redmond and other volunteers with Square Rootz KC at Duffle Bag Apparel in Raytown gave away 200 backpacks filled with school supplies, with 50 more students on the waitlist. The backpacks carry more than just supplies — they carry a message.

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"I am the bag lets you know, you are those things. You carry all the things inside of you. A backpack, all the essentials, these are the life essentials," Keishaun Redmond-Britton, founder of Square Rootz KC and owner of Duffle Bag Apparel, said.

Redmond-Britton added, "You can read on here. Can't nobody change who I am, so I got this, I can handle it, I can move forward, positive words so I can get through the day."

The giveaway helped take real financial pressure off parents.

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"Stuff like this, this event, it alleviates a lot of financial strain for me and a lot of other parents," Christian Starr, a parent, said. "Especially now, with inflation, everything else is starting to shoot up. This really helps now."

Starr continued, "A lot of kids go to school with just the supplies in their hands or don't have supplies at all. To have a backpack at the very least, it just boosts confidence in those kids that wouldn't even have it."

The strain goes beyond the backpack. Parents said school supply lists are long and expensive, and the costs add up fast.

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"One thing is the lists. It's long, so you just start calculating the price of it because you got school supplies, you got dinner, lunch, and just now getting school supplies it makes you think how stressful it is just preparing for school," Tayon Jackson, a parent and co-founder of Show Me State Jeeperz, explained. "You start thinking, oh, we got school supplies now, uniforms, we gotta make sure the kids are eating at school and things like that."

Supply lists increasingly include items that go beyond traditional school materials.

"They need cleaning supplies because some of the teachers don't have it," Jackson added. "Clorox wipes are expensive. But they need it."

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She explained some parents even buy extra supplies for classmates who may not have them — including teachers taking money out of their paycheck to help fill the gap.

"They should be focused on them learning and giving them the education, whereas it's something that is important and is needed, but sometimes you just can't make it happen," Jackson said.

Tiffany Black, co-founder of Show Me State Jeeperz, said community support is essential—it's why her group stepped up.

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"It's important, it's part of our community, and we need it, Black said. "We helped provide supplies for them."

The financial pressure families are feeling is reflected in national data. According to the National Retail Federation's 2026 Back-to-School Consumer Trends report, 61% of parents noticed higher prices when shopping for back-to-school items this year. In response, 41% of shoppers said they are turning to discount stores, 38% are looking for coupons or sales, and 37% are cutting back on other spending just to afford school supplies.

Lindsay Owens, Ph.D., president and CEO of Groundwork Collaborative, an economic policy nonprofit, told Scripps News Group in an exclusive report this week that its analysis shows school supplies should cost 7.7% more than they did last year.

"Families are going to have to pay a lot more this year for school supplies than they did last year," Owens said.

Experts indicate the trade war and Middle Eastern conflict are contributing factors.

Scripps News Group

"Energy price hikes filter through our economy more broadly in supply cost and transportation costs, but also in the cost of materials," Owens told Scripps News Group.

Redmond-Britton said the need is real and widespread in her community.

"Yesterday, I was talking to a young lady getting some school supplies, and she was like, everything is just so high, so you just gotta pick and choose," Redmond-Britton added.

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For Kiyan, the effort is worth every step — even the long days running from store to store, and watching his family operate their business.

"Some people don't have the access to it, and they're happy that they do have access to it," Redmond said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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