Backpack Giveaway 2013
Monday, August 5, 2013
Back-to-school
supplies can be costly for many Kentucky families. Clothes, backpacks,
pencils, pens and notebooks –
it can really add up. Realizing the need in our community, our employee
volunteers wanted to make sure the first day of class for many kids was “in the bag.”
To
prepare for the giveaway, our folks stuffed nearly 16,000 backpacks with
items purchased at cost through a partnership with Walmart. Some even brought
their family members to help pitch in.
LG&E
partnered with Louisville non-profits The Lord’s Kitchen and Feed the City to help
distribute 3,200 backpacks to kids on Saturday. A steady stream of school
buses packed with families arrived at our Broadway Office Complex. Volunteers
then guided them to the appropriate designated tent to receive their
supplies.
Parent Biona Thompson told CBS-affiliate WLKY in Louisville the supplies mean a lot to the kids. “When a kid is preparing to go to school, when you give our supplies, it gets them motivated for them to do better, to go to school and do what they are actually supposed to do, rather than playing around and getting in trouble,” said Thompson. In Lexington, KU partnered with YMCA of Central Kentucky and Fayette County Schools to hand out 7,000 backpacks during the 8th annual “Back to School Rallies,” which are held in 17 Lexington neighborhoods.
Saturday’s distribution was just
the first of many. 800 backpacks will be made available at various Jefferson
County Public School resource centers. Another 5,000 backpacks will be
distributed during back-to-school events organized by employee volunteers
benefiting students in Fern Creek, Mt. Washington, Harrodsburg and Central City,
and Bullitt, Meade, Ohio, Carroll and Trimble counties.
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