The start of a new school year is daunting enough for homeless children without adding the stigma of sitting down to a desk without the essential tools many of their classmates may take for granted. Volunteers of America’s Operation Backpack, which continues through July 23, aims to boost the confidence of Sacramento-area youth in need by providing new backpacks and school supplies to help them achieve academic excellence in spite of their frequently precarious living situations. The sixth-annual community drive invites the public to support these children and their families by bringing a new backpack filled with fresh school supplies to one of the more than 130 Operation Backpack drop-o