Office Depot has been Donating SackPacks for 16 years! #backtoschool

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. All opinions stated are genuine and my own.

Office Depot is donating 200,000 sackpacks to children in need.
This is their 16th year to donate!

For 16 years straight, Office Depot has been donating sack packs with school supplies in them for the National Backpack Program. By the end of this year, the total number donated will exceed 4,000,000 (200,000 this year alone). That's a lot of zeroes. Kudos to them for taking the steps to make such a big, positive difference for the kids who really need one. The designs are colorful and fun, and sure to make any child who receives one a very happy back-to-schooler.

Getting your school supplies is always a big part of the back-to-school fun, isn't it? Office Depot has thought of that too: Inside of each sturdy sackpack is a clear pouch with a pen, pencil, crayons, ruler with stencils, eraser, and pencil sharpener.

We received a handful of these bags to distribute too (one of each of the seven new colorful designs). Coincidentally, our church has big green bins distributed all over the place for backpack donations too. They will go to the students in our community who have a need. All of our sacks to donate went into those buckets.

Donating a backpack is an easy way to help a child in need. It may seem small to you, but I can pretty much guarantee it's going to be a very big deal to the children on the receiving end (and to their parents too).

I ABSOLUTELY love this initiative and I love Office Depot too!

OFFICE DEPOT FOUNDATION CELEBRATES 16^TH YEAR OF NATIONAL BACKPACK PROGRAM BY DONATING 200,000 SACKPACKS TO DESERVING CHILDREN

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 16^th 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.