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Employee volunteers at the BOC in Louisville stuff backpacks. 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. A little girl receives a backpack from an employee volunteer. 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.

By Liz Pratt, public relations specialist for LG&E and KU.

Each year as the summer winds down, our Generation Services team anticipates an influx of phone calls to start rolling in to the department; however, these calls are from employees around our service territory who are adding their names to the volunteer list for our company’s annual back-to-school supply drive.

As one employee volunteer describes, “It’s like ink on a napkin; over the years our efforts and volunteer support have continued to branch out and have enabled us to reach more children in need. Our volunteers look forward to this annual event.”

More than 14,000 filled backpacks in total were distributed by LG&E and Kentucky Utilities Company employees during the 10th annual back-to-school event spanning from Louisville, Lexington, Bullitt County, Meade County, Harrodsburg, Carroll County and near the company’s Green River facility in Muhlenberg County.

Company volunteers partnered with local nonprofit organizations and area retailers, Walmart and Meijer, to help thousands of students in need head into the classroom this school year with backpacks, paper, pocket folders, glue sticks, pencils and other necessary supplies.


We recognize education is the key to a bright future in our communities, and providing thousands of students with the necessary supplies to start off the school year on the right foot makes this one of our most special annual community events.



KU volunteers partnered with the YMCA of Central Kentucky and the Fayette County School system to distribute 8,000 backpacks in 20 neighborhoods as part of the annual “Ready, Set, Go! Neighborhood Back-to-School Rallies” in Lexington on August 6.

  

Students all across Kentucky are going back to school with the necessary supplies thanks to a combined giveaway effort by LG&E and KU.

This past weekend, LG&E volunteers assembled thousands of backpacks and braved record-high temperatures to distribute them to needy families at two distribution points in Louisville.

The Lord’s Kitchen and Feed the City assisted in the initiative, along with Walmart, which provided the supplies at deeply discounted prices.

LG&E’s endeavor, now in its ninth year, distributed more than 3,800 backpacks filled with school supplies to children in Louisville.

Louisville’s giveaway completed the companies’ 2010 School Supply Drive, which distributed more than 14,000 backpacks throughout the Commonwealth in places like Meade County, Bullitt County, Carroll County and Harrodsburg, where 2,750 backpacks were distributed.

An additional 8,000 backpacks were also given away earlier this month in 21 Lexington neighborhoods as part of the annual "Ready, Set, Go! Neighborhood Back-to-School Rallies."

We’d like to thank all who assisted in this year’s event; your collective efforts resulted in thousands of Kentucky students going back to school ready for success on day one.