For the fifth consecutive year, Bill and Tammie Delmage of WD & Associates Inc., a health care consulting firm in East Providence, have helped children in Rhode Island’s foster care system go back to school with new backpacks and supplies.

At the end of each summer, Bill Delmage, the company’s president, and Tammie Delmage, a client-services representative, assemble the backpacks before delivering them to the Rhode Island Foster Parents Association.

This year, the Delmages dropped off 100 backpacks filled with supplies.

The nonprofit association then distributed the backpacks to children in group homes and foster homes across the state.

Some of the children who received supplies are now in their first year of school, while others have started college.

“We are so grateful for companies like WD and Associates, and business leaders like Bill and Tammie Delmage, who so generously give back to their community,” said Lisa Guillette, executive director of the Rhode Island Foster Parents Association. •