Boston Scientific Partners With CBS EcoMedia And The Kids In Need Foundation To Provide School Supplies To Sojourner Truth Academy

(3BL Media) Dayton, OH - September 26, 2012 - The Kids In Need Foundation, a national, non-profit organization dedicated to providing free school supplies to economically disadvantaged school children and under-funded teachers, is providing teachers at the Sojourner Truth Academy in Minneapolis, Minnesota with free school supplies on September 26.  Thirty-six teachers will have a special shopping day at the Kids In Need Foundation Twin cities Resource Center. This event is funded by Boston Scientific Corporation’s financial support through CBS EcoMedia' s EducationAd program for advertisers. The teachers will select school supplies for more than 400 students at the Sojourner Truth Academy. Boston Scientific employees are volunteering to help teachers shop at the resource center.

Also on hand to support the free teacher shopping day at the Resource Center will be Dave Smith, Executive Director of the Kids In Need Foundation, Marilee Grant the Director of Community Relations of Boston Scientific in Minnesota, Julie Guy, the Director of Sojourner Truth Academy, and Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder of CBS EcoMedia.

“Our resource centers are designed to provide a shopping experience just like a store. The teachers come in, have a shopping cart and pick out all the supplies they need for their classrooms. The difference for the teachers is that it is free to them,” said Dave Smith, executive director of the Kids In Need Foundation. “Through the generosity of Boston Scientific and CBS EcoMedia, these teachers will get pencils, paper, notebooks, and all the other supplies they need for their students and classrooms. This will allow the students to go into their classrooms with the confidence and the tools they need to succeed.”

“At thousands of schools across the country, students arrive from home without the most basic supplies. But cash-strapped districts simply can’t provide the materials our kids need, and it’s our teachers who so often step in to fill that gap, paying for paper, pencils – even textbooks! – out of their own pockets.  It shouldn’t be teachers’ burden to bear," said Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder of EcoMedia.  “We created our EducationAd program to provide the resources and programming school communities need to realize that most American ideal, a quality education that will prepare our children to lead meaningful and productive lives. Here in Minneapolis today, thanks to generous financial support from Boston Scientific, teachers from the Sojourner Truth Academy will fill their shopping carts at the Kids In Need Foundation's Resource Center. The success of today’s event is a powerful reminder of the positive impact we can all have when we collaborate to find creative solutions to our challenges.  This is the philosophy behind the public-private partnership business model at the core of EcoMedia’s EducationAd, WellnessAd, and EcoAd Programs.”

“Boston Scientific is proud to support the Sojourner Truth Academy and the teachers who are making a difference in the lives of students,” said Marilee Grant, director, community relations at Boston Scientific in Minnesota.  “This initiative provides teachers and students the tools they need to be successful, and the reinforcement for teachers that they are valued and supported beyond the walls of the school.  The extraordinary collaboration between CBS EcoMedia, Kids in Need Foundation and Boston Scientific allows us to make a positive impact in our community.”

“We are extremely grateful for this wonderful opportunity to receive free school supplies for our classrooms!  Our teachers use their own money to help provide supplies for our scholars since many of them do not come to school with their own supplies.  This event will provide our teachers with enough supplies to be outfitted for the entire year!  Thank you, Boston Scientific and CBS EcoMedia for making a difference in the lives of our scholars.  You are giving them the tools to excel in school.  We truly appreciate this amazing donation!” said Julie Guy, Director of Sojourner Truth Academy.

Event Time and Place
4:00 PM on September 26 at the
Twin Cities Kids In Need Resource Center
729 Kasota Ave. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414

About the Kids In Need Foundation
The Kids In Need Foundation is a national 501(c)(3) charitable organization with offices in Dayton, Ohio, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1995, the Foundation’s mission is to ensure that every child is prepared to learn and succeed by providing free school supplies nationally to students most in need. The Kids In Need National Network of Resource Centers includes 27 facilities where teachers from low-income schools go to obtain free school supplies for their students. In addition, two Kids In Need Teacher Grant programs provide K-12 educators with funding to provide innovative learning experiences for students. The Kids In Need Foundation has distributed $400 million in school supplies since its founding, directly benefiting 2.2 million students and 100,000 teachers annually, and has awarded more than $1.3 million in grants to teachers. Kids In Need has received Charity Navigator’s highest four-star rating for three consecutive years, indicating that it operates in a fiscally responsible way and outperforms most other charities in America. For more information, visit www.kinf.org. Follow Kids In Need Foundation on Twitter, http://twitter.com/kidsinneed.

About Boston Scientific
Boston Scientific is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices that are used in a broad range of interventional medical specialties.  For more information, please visit: www.bostonscientific.com.  

About Sojourner Truth Academy
Sojourner Truth Academy (STA) is a PreK-8^th grade charter school located in North Minneapolis.  The school was created by community members in 1999 to provide children with foundational skills in reading and math.  STA has grown into a successful school that serves 404 scholars.  Last year STA expanded to include PreK through eighth grade. The administration and staff at STA provide a well-rounded education for scholars and for parents. STA implements

QComp (Quality Compensation Based Pay), which gives teachers the tools to provide data-driven instruction in all curriculum areas.  Additionally, STA provides parent programming called PAYS (Parent Achievement Yeilds Success).  Parenting classes include Cooking Matters, Adult ESL Saturday School and Family Meal Nights. STA is an excellent school focused on academic achievement.  

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 2008, 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 ecomedia.cbs.com to learn more. 

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.