Citizens Bank is asking the public to donate pencils, notebooks, folders, crayons and other new school supplies to help needy children return to school prepared.
It launched the Gear for Grades initiative earlier this week and is working to stuff 2,500 backpacks for New York children by Aug. 10.
“Every child deserves the excitement of returning to school with new supplies and knowing that people care about their future,” Citizens Bank and RBS Citizens New York President James P. Gaspo said in a news release. “We thank our customers and the public in advance for supporting the Gear for Grades program.”
The average American family spent $603 last year on back-to-school items, according to the National Retail Federation. The Citizens Bank initiative will help unburden some of that cost by providing the following supplies: child-safe scissors, pencils, pens, erasers, pocket folders, spiral notebooks, crayons, washable markers, rulers, glue sticks, colored pencils, pencil boxes and index cards.
Local organizations that serve youths will distribute the backpacks to children who need them the most in time for the start of the school year.
“The Gear for Grades initiative will go a long way toward getting the school year off to a great start for hundreds of local children,” said Albany Police Athletic League Executive Director Lenny Ricchiuti. “Citizens Bank is fulfilling a need that most people take for granted. The new backpacks and school supplies will make the return to the classroom a more exciting time for many children.”
Gear for Grades has provided more than 200,000 children across the nation with new backpacks and school supplies since 2003.
Categories: Schenectady County
