Philadelphia Super Network Buick-GMC Dealers Partner with EcoMedia and Kids in Need Foundation to Provide Much Needed School Supplies to Nine Schools in Tri-State Area

(3BL Media) Philadelphia, PA - August 27, 2012 - The new school year is getting off to a brighter start for thousands of students in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware thanks to the Philadelphia Super Network Buick-GMC Dealers and the kickoff of their School Ready Supplies giveaway program, made possible with the financial support the dealers provided through a unique advertising program offered by CBS EcoMedia.

The distribution of the sorely needed school supplies to nine tri-state area schools is being managed by EcoMedia’s national nonprofit partner, Kids In Need Foundation.  The funding for the school supplies came from the Philadelphia Super Network Buick-GMC Dealers’ EducationAd advertising on CBS. The EducationAd program from CBS EcoMedia allows advertisers to support community projects like the Super Network Buick-GMC Dealers’ funding of the School Ready Supplies giveaway.

“Providing students with the most basic educational supplies is, sadly, a real problem for today’s budget-strapped schools,” said Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder of CBS EcoMedia. “We’re delighted that, through our EducationAd program, we can offer advertisers the opportunity to fund solutions to this challenge… and to a wide range of other issues facing the education community today. We’re particularly proud to partner with the Philadelphia Super Network Buick-GMC Dealers on the School Ready Supplies giveaway. The Dealers’ enthusiastic collaboration with Kids in Need Foundation is just one example of the tangible and meaningful quality of life improvements made possible by our EducationAd, WellnessAd, and EcoAd programs.  And it’s evidence of the positive impact we can all make when we work together to meet the urgent social challenges facing communities across the nation today.”

Buick-GMC dealers were on hand today at the first day of school to help distribute individual student backpacks filled with school supplies to every student at Tenth and Green Elementary School in Reading, Pa. Each student in school received a backpack full of age-appropriate supplies, including folders, notebooks, crayons, pens and pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, glue sticks, scissors, rulers and highlighters.  Philadelphia Super Network Buick-GMC Dealers Representatives from Penske Buick GMC and Kids In Need Foundation Executive Director David Smith joined Polizzotto at the Reading elementary school to help make the delivery and to celebrate the kickoff of the School Ready Supplies program. 

"We are so grateful to be the recipients of such a tremendous gift. Our students and their families were so excited to receive much- needed supplies, said Janet C. Heilman, principal of Tenth and Green Elementary School in Reading, Pennsylvania. "Our students will have the confidence to begin this school year knowing they have the tools they need to learn. And our teachers will have the supplies they need to keep their classrooms running efficiently for this entire school year. Our gratitude extends well beyond the words thank you.”

Later in the day, Buick-GMC Representative F.C. Kerbeck Buick GMC, Smith and Polizzotto then traveled to Charles Street Elementary School in Palmyra, N.J., where new classroom supplies, including thousands of pens, pencils, markers, crayons, notebooks and glue sticks, were delivered to grateful teachers with the help of local Philadelphia Super Network Buick-GMC Dealers.

“The Philadelphia Super Network Buick GMC Dealers are excited to have an opportunity to come together as a group of dealers with a common cause geared at giving back to education of youth in our communities. We hope the supplies help improve the learning experience for all students that are benefiting from this year’s donation,” said Shar-dé Ricketts, Philadelphia Super Network Buick GMC Representative

Tomorrow morning, on the second day of the new school year, all 710 students at Paxinosa Elementary School in Easton, Pa., will receive their own backpacks filled with new school supplies. Local area Philadelphia Super Network Buick-GMC representatives from Star Buick GMC will be in school to lend a hand and show their support for the students.

The Dealers’ School Ready Supplies giveaway will also deliver free school supplies during the first week of school to teachers and classrooms to Glenwood Elementary School in Media, Pa., Lower Southhampton Elementary School in Trevose, Pa., Willow Dale Elementary School in Warminister, Pa., H.L. Beeler Elementary School in Marlton, N.J., West End Memorial Elementary School in Woodbury, N.J., and Elbert-Palmer Elementary School in Wilmington, Del.  The schools will be provided with bulk quantities of high-need supplies including pencils, paper, crayons, glue, glue sticks, markers and pens.

“This grant from the Philadelphia-area Buick-GMC Dealers ensures that many area students receive essential school supplies to help them succeed in the upcoming school year,” said Dave Smith, Executive Director of the Kids In Need Foundation.  “These students will be sitting at desks filled with the essentials so they will have the confidence they need to start the year off right.”

Because classroom supplies are so difficult to come by for schools in today’s economic environment, the Philadelphia Super Network Buick-GMC Dealers are also sponsoring a two-week School Materials Supply Drive at several of their dealership locations.  Starting on the week of August 27 and running through September 10 participating dealers will be collecting basic school supply donations from community members and then delivering them to local schools that need them most.  Super Network Buick-GMC Dealers are asking for donations of basic supplies including pencils, paper, crayons, glue, glue sticks, markers and pens.

###

About Philadelphia Super Network Buick-GMC DealersThe Super Network Buick GMC Local Marketing Association (LMA) is comprised of dealers in the Tri-State Philadelphia area, spanning Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  As local representatives of both the Buick and GMC brands, we offer a large selection of new and used Buick and GMC models. Our dealers are pleased to have the opportunity to help promote educational needs in our community and provide much needed resources to young students.

About Buick & GMC

GMC, committed to manufacturing performance vehicles since 1902, and is one of the industry's healthiest brands and we are proud to represent them. Through innovation and engineering excellence, GMC has evolved and now offers fuel-efficient trucks and crossovers, including the Terrain small SUV and Acadia crossover.

Buick, a modern luxury brand, offers vehicles with sculpted designs, luxurious interiors with thoughtful personal technologies, along with responsive-yet-efficient performance.

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. 

About Kids In Need Foundation

The Kids In Need Foundation is a national 501(c)(3) charitable organization with offices in Dayton, Ohio, and Minneapolis, Minn. 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.