When children return to elementary schools in Suffolk on Tuesday to start the new school year, many of them will have reason to thank people in their various communities for providing many of the school supplies needed to start the year off right.

Churches, civic organizations, individuals, families and businesses have worked together and separately in communities around the city to provide backpacks full of school supplies for schools in their neighborhoods to contribute to children in need. The general idea seems to have been to try to make sure that no student in Suffolk — no matter how disadvantaged he or she might be — starts school without the advantage of a full complement of pencils, notebooks and other school supplies.

Considering the ubiquity of back-to-school sales late this summer and the low prices available there for the supplies that later filled many of those donated packs, the investment was a relatively minor one, especially as it was one that was shared — without prior arrangement on a city-wide scale — by folks all over Suffolk.

But the return on that investment could be a large one. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of starting school with a full complement of shiny new notebooks and perfectly sharpened pencils. It’s the feeling of fresh starts and endless possibilities, and it’s a feeling that many Suffolk students might not have had, but for the simple generosity of some thoughtful neighbors and anonymous friends.