Nick Cannon Joins Office Depot Foundation to Donate 8,000 New Sackpacks to Help Los Angeles-Area Chi
Nick Cannon Joins Office Depot Foundation to Donate 8,000 New Sackpacks to Help Los Angeles-Area Children Get Ready for School
National Backpack Program Has Helped More Than Three Million Kids Since 2001
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- With the beginning of the new school year just a few weeks away, the Office Depot Foundation is preparing to donate 8,000 colorful new sackpacks containing essential school supplies to kids served by nonprofit organizations, schools and agencies in the Los Angeles area. The Foundation - the independent charitable giving arm of Office Depot® (NYS: ODP) - will make the donations during a special Back-to-School Celebration beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, July 26 at the Office Depot store located at 401 E. 2nd Street in Los Angeles.
For the second year in a row, Nick Cannon - the award-winning actor, comedian, host of "America's Got Talent" - will join the Foundation for the Back-to-School Celebration. Cannon also will participate in events in August in San Diego, Fort Lauderdale and New York.
In 2013, the Foundation will donate 300,000 sackpacks to deserving children in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and a number of other countries through its National Backpack Program, which is now in its 13th year. During the past six years alone, more than 42,000 Los Angeles-area kids have benefitted from this award-winning initiative.
By the end of this year, Office Depot and the Office Depot Foundation will have given away more than three million backpacks and sackpacks since the National Backpack Program began in 2001. If you put all three million children together, they would fill the Rose Bowl almost 32 times!
The non-profit organizations, schools and agencies scheduled to receive sackpacks on July 26 include:
Ascencia
Building Futures Inc.
Camino Nuevo Charter Academy
Central City Neighborhood Partners
Children's Law Center of California
Community Outreach and Opportunity Programs (CO-OP)
El Salvador Foundation
Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Unified School District
Para Los Ninos
Unification of Disabled Latin Americans
Wilson Elementary School
Women Like Us Hollywood
Special guests expected to participate include:
Jim B. Clarke, Office of Strategic Partnerships, representing Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti
Danielle Zapata, Assistant Field Deputy, representing Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina
Miguel Martinez, Senior Field Representative, representing Assembly Speaker John A. Perez
Also scheduled to participate is the Kids In Need Foundation, one of the Office Depot Foundation's national nonprofit partners in this year's National Backpack Program. The Foundation will be represented by Inland Empire United Way.
"In keeping with our mission - Listen Learn Care - we are committed to making a difference in children's lives by giving them tools to help them succeed in school and, ultimately, in life," says Office Depot Foundation President Mary Wong. "We are thrilled to know that we will reach our three millionth child this year, and grateful to Office Depot and our many supporters for giving us the opportunity to continue this program for its 13th year."
The specially designed sackpacks come in six different color combinations with kid-friendly graphics. 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.
To place the sackpacks into children's hands, the Foundation is hosting 25 Back-to-School Celebrations in cities across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico.
Thousands of sackpacks are being given to kids through the Office Depot Foundation's continuing partnerships with 10 nonprofit organizations serving children nationally and internationally. The Foundation is collaborating with the AARP Experience Corps, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), the National Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Association, Feed The Children, Food For The Poor, the Kids In Need Foundation, Zach Bonner's Little Red Wagon Foundation, the National Foundation for Women Legislators, Operation Homefront and Samaritan's Feet International.
Thousands more are being donated through Office Depot stores in hundreds of local communities and in partnership with Office Depot's Business Solutions Division in select cities. For the sixth consecutive year, children of the Navajo Nation in Arizona will receive sackpacks.
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 at www.twitter.com/officedepotfndn; the National Backpack Program's hashtag is #OfficeDepotFndnKids.
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 non-profit 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.
IMAGES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
INTERNET PRESS KIT: http://www.officedepotfoundation.org/backpackprogram/default.asp
Note to media: These sackpacks are not available to the general public. They are being donated only to the designated recipients named above.
Office Depot Foundation
Leon Rubin, 561-251-8075 (mobile)
lrubin@jkggroup.com
or
Serbin Media
Bruce Serbin, 954-821-3434
bruce@serbinmedia.com
KEYWORDS: United States North America California Florida
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