Are your kids sporting a new backpack this year? Are you stocking up on school supplies which include a cool pair of headphones or colorful, glittery pencils? Have they started back at school in a new outfit? As I tell my Fancy Girls all the time, we should be grateful to have the chance to buy new things for school – or any time. Because there are kids in our neighborhoods that don’t have that luxury. Thankfully, there are non-profits both in our country and around the world whose sole purpose to give children with little to no funds access to school supplies so they can feel like they have the same opportunities as their peers. In its 16th year, the Office Depot Foundation is pleased to share that they have donated approximately 200,000 sackpacks and school supplies through it’s award-winning National Backpack Program to agencies in the US and internationally. Keep reading for the official press release about the program and pictures of the sackpacks that are donated. (Office Depot Foundation sent us a few sackpacks to try out and then pass along to those who could use them. I hope you are inspired to pay it forward too). To learn more about the Foundation and how you can get involved, visit www.officedepotfoundation.org.

——— Official Release ————-

For the past 16 years, the Office Depot Foundation has been giving children important tools they need to succeed in school – and in life – at the beginning of the new school year.

This year is no exception. In 2016, the Foundation – the independent charitable giving arm of Office Depot® (NASDAQ:ODP) – is celebrating the 16th year of its award-winning National Backpack Program by donating 200,000 colorful new sackpacks to nonprofit organizations, schools and agencies across the United States and internationally.

By the end of 2016, Office Depot and the Office Depot Foundation will have given away more than 4 million backpacks and sackpacks since the National Backpack Program began in 2001.

“We believe that every child should have the opportunity to go to school with dignity and hope,” says Office Depot Foundation President Mary Wong. “For most children, the first day of school is an exciting time complete with new clothes and back-to-school gear. But for kids in families where money is tight, the experience can be just the opposite. The sackpacks and school supplies we donate help to level the playing field and give these wonderful children a reason to stand just a little bit taller.”

To deliver sackpacks directly to children, the Foundation is hosting Back-to-School Celebrations in select cities across the U.S. in July and August.

Thousands more sackpacks are being given to kids through the Office Depot Foundation’s continuing partnerships with a number of nonprofit organizations serving children nationally and globally. The Foundation is collaborating with the AARP Experience Corps, the National Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Association, Feed the Children, Food For The Poor, the Kids In Need Foundation, the National Foundation for Women Legislators, Operation Homefront and Samaritan’s Feet International. For the eighth consecutive year, children of the Navajo Nation in Arizona will receive sackpacks.

The specially designed, drawstring-style sackpacks come in seven bright and colorful designs – several of which are new for 2016. Each one includes a zippered pouch containing a pen, pencil, pencil sharpener, eraser, six-inch ruler and four crayons. The sackpacks do not have any Office Depot Foundation or Office Depot logos or markings.

More information about the National Backpack Program can be found on the Office Depot Foundation’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/officedepotfoundation. To learn more about the Office Depot Foundation and its initiatives, go to www.officedepotfoundation.org/. You can follow the Foundation on Twitter @OfficeDepotFndn; the National Backpack Program’s hashtag is #ODFcares. The Foundation is also on Instagram: @officedepotfoundation.

About the Office Depot Foundation
The Office Depot Foundation is an independent foundation − tax exempt under IRC Sec. 501(c)(3) − that serves as the independent charitable giving arm of Office Depot, Inc. In keeping with its mission, Listen Learn Care®, the Foundation supports a variety of programs that give children tools to succeed in school and in life; build the capacity of nonprofit organizations through collaboration and innovation; and help communities prepare for disasters, as well as recovering and rebuilding afterwards. For more information, visit www.officedepotfoundation.org.

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