Fort Pierce Elks Lodge member Lenny Smallacombe, PDD, backpack program chair and lodge Elks National Foundation grants writer and coordinator, met several times with St. Lucie Public Schools officials to set up their largest Operation Christmas Backpack event yet — helping fill the needs of more than 1,050 children at 11 schools who are homeless. St. Lucie Public Schools dropped off 11 pallets to the lodge Dec. 11. Over the next two days, the backpack team sorted, boxed and loaded 11 pallets. On Dec. 14, two St. Lucie Public Schools trucks picked up all the pallets which held the backpacks, school clothes, kids’ hygiene kits, hand sanitizers, toys, Christmas gifts and snacks. This is their seventh year of the backpack program.