August 28, 2008

Backpack Drive a success thanks to Times reader’s donations

Almaden’s Jorey Beamesderfer and her daughter Adara volunteer in the Family Giving Tree warehouse during the Back to School Backpack Drive. Photos by Julie Davis Berry

The Family Giving Tree credits the readers of the Almaden Times for coming to the aide of the nonprofit’s Back-to-School Backpack Drive. “We were going to have to turn down dozens of schools because we were short almost 3,000 backpack donations this summer,” said Family Giving Tree Executive Director Jennifer Cullenbine. “The economy really affected our drive this year. We were calling principals of schools we’d helped in the past to tell them that we couldn’t give backpacks and supplies to their students this year.”

But, the dire situation turned around when media outlets like the Almaden Times got involved and spread the word about the extreme need. “Thanks to these donations we were able to fulfill every request of every school that needed backpacks and we gave out 15,000 backpacks to needy kids,” said Cullenbine. “Your reader’s response was incredible!”