Shine bright 2026

During Shine Bright every year, volunteers pack more than 5,000 hygiene kits for local students.

You can dramatically change a child’s life when you support Shine Bright.

Many local students across the metro are lacking essential hygiene items such as soap, shampoo, conditioner, clean clothes and dental products — impacting their health, learning and confidence. Helping students get access to the resources they lack allows them to build a better and brighter future for themselves and our community. We pack nearly 5,000 kits and distribute nearly 5,500.

Every child deserves to come to school feeling confident and ready to learn, but for so many this is not possible.

what is shine bright?

United Way of the Midlands partners with local school districts and raises funds for the purchase and assembly of Shine Bright hygiene kits for kindergarten, sixth- and ninth-grade students. The kits are then distributed to students in the Omaha, Council Bluffs and Papillion La Vista school districts – as well as JAG Nebraska students across the state.

Each Shine Bright kit contains the full-size essential hygiene items kids need to feel confident so they can start the year off right.

LOCAL School Counselors have reported

students appear to have higher confidence

0 %

students appear to be more ready to learn

0 %

students served experience less bullying

0 %

students served have improved attendance

0 %

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Give Your Time

Make a child’s day brighter by sharing your time at Shine Bright July 28-31.

Participate in the volunteer event where you’ll turn good intentions into powerful actions.

Volunteer Sign Up Coming Soon

what is in each kit?

How are kits distributed?

To protect the privacy of students, kits will be discretely distributed by social workers, school counselors and school nurses who have identified children in need of these items.