Seagate teams in the U.S. donated more than 200 new backpacks, filled with essential school supplies, helping students in need start a new school year on the right note. Here’s a roundup of recent activities.
Colorado
As a former teacher, Penny Rehn knows what it means for students to have pens, paper, glue sticks and other supplies, particularly on the first day of school.
“Back when I was teaching, each fall on the first day of school, it was heartbreaking to see some kids come in with no supplies,” said Rehn, an administrative assistant for Seagate’s EDG materials group in Longmont, Colorado, who helped organize the site’s backpack drive. “So we’d scrounge up what we could from the office or go buy supplies ourselves.”
Rehn said some teachers deliver filled backpacks to the homes of their students before the first day of class. “That way the kids have the supplies in time for that first-day commute, which is so important for their self-esteem,” she said. “When they head to school, they have their backpacks on with their heads held high, just like the other kids.”
That’s why community-based supply drives are so important, said Rehn. “I’m really glad Seagate sponsors this effort and that employees continue to give what they can.”
Seagate Longmont employees donated school supplies, including 92 backpacks filled with supplies, to the Crayons to Calculators program, which distributes the supplies to students in the nearby St. Vrain and Boulder Valley School Districts.
California and Minnesota
In Northern California, Seagate’s Cupertino, Fremont and Scotts Valley employees donated almost $2,800 and provided 85 backpacks with supplies to The Family Giving Tree, the largest holiday gift and backpack donation program in California.
Fremont employees also volunteered at The Family Giving Tree warehouse, where they helped sort more than 35,000 backpacks collected this year for Bay Area children in need.
Minnesota employees in Shakopee and Normandale, meanwhile, collected 260 pounds of pencils, notebooks, folders and other supplies and delivered 34 backpacks to VEAP and CAP Agency, organizations that provide a range of services to students in need.
— by Cindy Martini, with Lori Johnson and Chuck Rigsby
