July 31, 2008

Organizations help low-income students with school supplies

Family Giving Tree sponsors annual Back-to-School Backpack Drive

The Family Giving Tree is in the midst of its 12th annual Back-to-School Drive and is seeking sponsors to donate new backpacks and school supplies or to donate online to help local low-income children. This is the biggest backpack drive in California.

“This year more than ever we are seeing the effect of poverty in the Bay Area,” said Jennifer Cullenbine, FGT executive director. “We are urging people to visit our Web site at www.familygivingtree.org and sponsor a child online or to visit Peet’s Coffee locations in Milpitas, Cuper-tino or in El Paseo de Saratoga in San Jose to pick up cards listing the children’s needs.”

In 2007, together with caring companies and organizations, the Family Giving Tree helped 15,000 low-income children in the California Free or Reduced Lunch Program (Title I) program by providing new backpacks containing the tools necessary to succeed. All told there are 227,826 children enrolled in the Title I program in the following Bay Area counties: Santa Clara County - 87,614; Alameda County - 80,348; San Francisco County - 32,415; and in San Mateo County - 27,449 children are enrolled.

The Family Giving Tree anticipates helping thousands of children by working with over 90 social service agencies and schools throughout the Bay Area who will be receiving the backpacks for their low-income students.

This year more than 200 Silicon Valley host companies are committed to collecting much-needed backpacks and school supplies for low-income children by the start of the new school year. Each host business or organization will promote the drive at their facility and ask both their employees and customers to fill a new backpack.

The collection of supplies and backpacks takes place Aug. 4-15 at the Family Giving Tree warehouse, 434 S. Abbott Ave. in Milpitas, with distribution to the children in time to start the school year.

For more information, visit www.familygivingtree.org.

Sacred Heart seeks back-to-school donations

Sacred Heart Community Service has seen a record low number of donations coming in for its annual back-to-school Pack-A-Back program. They are putting a call out to the community to rally to bring in backpacks and school supplies for local kids living at poverty level.

Delaney Bantillo, 15, helped fill backpacks with supplies at the annual Back-to-School Backpack Drive put on by The Family Giving Tree in 2007.

“This is unprecedented,” says Marizela Maciel, director of Essential Services at Sacred Heart and the Pack-A-Back program. “There are a variety of factors influencing the drop in donations that we are seeing, the biggest of which is the hurting economy. But I know that people want to help, we just need to get the word out.”

The Pack-A-Back program was started 10 years ago at Sacred Heart to provide children from low-income households the opportunity to start the school year off right with school supplies that their families, because of economic hardship, aren’t able to provide.

In past years the program has been hugely successful, helping hundreds of families provide necessary items for school and creating palpable enthusiasm toward the start of the school year.

Sacred Heart is asking for monetary donations or school supplies. To find out more information about the Pack-A-Back program and needed items, visit www.sacredheartcs.org.

About Sacred Heart Community Service
Founded in 1964, Sacred Heart Community Service is a non-denominational 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization based in San Jose with a vision of a community united to ensure that every child and adult is free from poverty. Its mission is to change lives and impact poverty by providing essential services, offering tools for self-sufficiency and ministering with dignity, compassion and respect. The organization engages the community and inspire volunteers to love, serve and share. For more information, contact www.sacredheartcommunityservice.org.