Southern California Buick GMC Dealers Give New Backpacks Filled with School Supplies to 1,100 Students in the Greater Los Angeles Area
Low-income students received much needed school-ready supplies through national nonprofit Kids in Need Foundation
OXNARD, Calif., December, 16, 2013 /3BL Media/ – Southern California Buick GMC Dealers has partnered with CBS EcoMedia Inc. through its innovative EducationAd advertising program to fund free backpacks filled with school supplies for two Los Angeles-area schools: Ramona Elementary School and E.P. Foster Elementary.
EcoMedia’s national non-profit partner, Kids In Need Foundation, provided the much-needed school supplies for the two schools through its School Ready Supplies and Bulk Supplies Program. The funding for the supplies was included in the Southern California Buick GMC Dealers’ EducationAd advertising on CBS, which enables advertisers to support community projects across the country, such as the backpacks filled with essential items -- including folders, notebooks, crayons, pens and pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, glue sticks, scissors, rulers and highlighters -- that the students were surprised with today.
Southern California Buick GMC Dealers participated in a special assembly at Ramona Elementary School where the new backpacks were revealed and handed out to the students. Hosts of today’s event included Robert Alexander from Alexander Buick GMC and John Barrett, Southern California Buick GMC Zone Manager. When talking about Buick GMC’s involvement in this partnership, John Barrett stated that, “We are pleased to be able to help this very important cause.”
The donation by the Southern California Buick GMC Dealers will take the burden off families who are unable to purchase school supplies and the teachers who so often purchase supplies out of their own pocket. This generous donation will impact a total of 1,090 low-income students: 550 students at Ramona Elementary and 540 students at E.P. Foster Elementary.
The impact of this project cannot be underestimated. When given school supplies, children are able to fully participate in the educational experiences with which they are presented. Teachers and principals report improvement in concentration, participation, and behavior of children when they are properly equipped at school.
"We commend EcoMedia and the Southern California Buick GMC Dealers for understanding how important it is for students to have school supplies," said Dave Smith, executive director of the Kids In Need Foundation. "Having the school supplies means these students will not have to worry about how they will fully participate in classroom activities or how they will get their homework done. To eliminate this barrier for the kids and alleviate the burden teachers often assume of providing supplies to students out of their own pockets are the reasons the Kids In Need Foundation exists. But we can't do it without the support of our partners."
“The critical supplies handed out today means so much more than meets the eye,” said Paul Polizzotto, Founder and President, CBS EcoMedia. “Now, these students will not have to worry about how they will participate in their classroom activities or how they will complete their homework. Southern California Buick GMC Dealers have invested in the education of students in this community and over 1,000 students will be affected by this generous donation through our EducationAd program.”
About Southern California Buick GMC Dealers
There are twenty-five dealers in the Southern California Buick GMC Local Marketing Association, which covers Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
To find your nearest dealer, visit Buick.com or GMC.com.
About Kids In Need Foundation
The Kids In Need Foundation is a national 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in 1995. The Foundation’s mission is to prepare children to learn and succeed by providing free school supplies to students most in need. Its National Network of Resource Centers includes 32 facilities where teachers from low-income schools go to obtain free school supplies for their students. School supply giveaways in communities not served by Resource Centers are accommodated through the School Ready Supplies program, and students who have gone through natural disasters are helped to get back to their normal routines with new backpacks and supplies through the Second Responder program. In addition, two Teacher Grant programs award preK-12 educators with funding to provide innovative learning experiences for students. The Kids In Need Foundation has distributed more than $500 million in school supplies since its founding, directly benefiting more than 2.4 million students and 100,000 teachers annually, and has awarded $1.5 million in grants to teachers. Kids In Need has received Charity Navigator’s highest four-star rating for four years, indicating that it operates in a fiscally responsible way and outperforms most other charities in America, and has earned the GuideStar Exchange Seal, demonstrating its commitment to transparency. For more information, visit www.kinf.org. Join Kids In Need Foundation on Twitter at twitter.com/kidsinneed and Facebook at facebook.com/kidsinneed.
About CBS EcoMedia Inc.
At EcoMedia, we’re propelled by the desire to create positive social change; that’s been our mission since we founded the company in 2002. In 2010, after successfully partnering with CBS on a wide range of environmental projects, EcoMedia became the newest addition to the CBS Corporation portfolio, exponentially scaling our reach across television, radio, interactive, publishing and outdoor media.
Through our patent-pending EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd programs, an innovative twist on traditional advertising, advertisers are able to support much-needed local projects which in turn creates jobs, saves taxpayer money and improves the quality of life in communities nationwide. In the process, we’re fundamentally altering the advertising landscape, elevating the ordinary, traditional commercial – and media, in general – into a catalyst for tangible, quantifiable social change. Please visit ecomediacbs.com, like us at facebook.com/EcoMediaCBS or follow us at Twitter.com/EcoMediaCBS
By participating in EcoMedia’s EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd advertising programs, EcoMedia’s advertisers agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health and/or education within local communities. EcoMedia’s advertising programs are not certification programs nor are the EcoAd, WellnessAd or EducationAd logos seals of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse or make any representations about EcoMedia program advertisers, their products or services.
