August 18, 2005


Almaden family gives back to community

Three boys spend spare time garnering supplies for school

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

While a lot of kids may scoff at the idea of community service, three Almaden brothers plunge right in and can see they are making a difference.

From left, Ben, Zachary and Alex Greer pause for a shot before resuming their work helping underprivileged kids pick out new backpacks and school supplies. Photo by Diego Abeloos

On Aug. 16, the three Greer brothers—16-year-old Ben, 14-year-old Alex and 11-year-old Zachary—handed out 600 backpacks filled with supplies at InnVision’s Georgia Travis Center on Seventh and Commercial streets.

Last year Ben, Alex and Zachary Greer decided to give back to their community. While parents Laurie and Jerry expected them to volunteer some time at the Emergency Housing Consortium or Sacred Heart, the boys had their own idea.

They decided to follow in their grandmother’s footsteps. She is the director for Cross Ministries in Des Moines, Iowa who has put together a backpack giveaway program in that city. The two older Greer boys put together a program to buy backpacks and school supplies for those who couldn’t.

“The only way these children can better themselves is through education,” said Ben. “And, you can’t do well in school if you don’t have books and paper to work with.”

The boys asked their grandmother questions and proceeded to develop their own plan. Their father, Jerry Greer, is involved in InnVision. He set up an appointment with its director Christine Burrows to present the idea. After that it was full speed ahead.

“We thought we’d start something similar to what our grandmother does in Des Moines,” added Ben. “It’s worked out really well. The last day, when we hand out the backpacks, really shows that the kids like it. And, we have a great time,” he said.

Ben noted that he spends about 160 hours a year working on the project.

Dealing with corporations
Looking through magazines at a local bookstore early in 2004, Ben found a Fortune 500 magazine listing the top 500 corporations in America. Ben and Alex “sent out letters to every single company in the top 500,” said their mom Laurie Greer. They received 350 rejection letters and about 100 companies didn’t bother to respond, but they did get donations from some of the companies, from neighbors and from individuals, she added.

Faith Cardenas and 6-year-old daughter Angelina Heredia of San Jose had reason to smile after picking out a pink backpack stuffed with school supplies. Photo by Diego Abeloos

Last year the boys received about 20 donations on their own. Most of the companies didn’t want to talk with youngsters, so Laurie and Jerry stepped in to help them and it became a family project. In 2004, they put together 251 backpacks with Zachary helping. In fact, Laurie noted that Zachary packed about a quarter of them.

Instead of starting their 2005 giveaway after the new year, which the boys did the first year, they started working before Christmas 2004 to get letters out. It also helped that last year some responses came in after the 2004 giveaway so they had a head start for this year.

While they tried to collect supplies, they got money from most people. However, Laurie noted that Office Depot gave the boys every discount the store had, informed the kids of all the specials and took 20 percent off of everything, allowing the three to buy more supplies.

“It’s become a family project,” Laurie said. “We are planning to continue it. It’s a lot of work, but all of us enjoy it and they boys saw what a difference it made. It may not be a big impact on society, but it certainly made an impact on one child’s life,” she said.

All three boys have busy schedules with school, sports and just normal teen and pre-teen activities. Besides trying out for soccer and basketball at Bellarmine College Preparatory, where he will be a junior this year, Ben had a summer job. Alex played basketball and lacrosse at Bret Harte Middle School; he will be an incoming freshman at Bellarmine this year. Zachary plays soccer and lacrosse and will enter Bret Harte as a sixth-grader this year.

“They are typical teens,” said their proud mother.