School is Cool Distributes More Than 2,500 Backpacks to Poudre School District Students

Several thousand students in the Poudre School District will benefit from the generosity of others as a result the 19th annual School is Cool program. Colorado State University employees and community members volunteered their time earlier this week to organize and stuff backpacks and book bags with school supplies.

All 2,516 packs and bags were distributed to schools yesterday. Each school determines which students will receive the supplies based on need. Families interested in obtaining School is Cool supplies should contact their home schools directly. Backpacks are not available at or through CSU.

“It’s a great way for these students, whose families might otherwise have had a difficult time, to get the school year started off on the right foot,” said longtime School is Cool committee member Lauri Gail Jones.

Backpacks filled with notebooks, pens, rulers, crayons and erasers were distributed to 46 Poudre School District elementary, middle school and high schools. For a third consecutive year, scientific calculators were included in all middle school backpacks. Each backpack is filled with basic supplies that are grade-level appropriate.

Since 1991, School is Cool has provided free school supplies to more than 21,000 local students. This year’s School is Cool program was aided by the efforts of more than 130 volunteers.

“During these periods of economic difficulty, people are more and more generous with their time and donations,” Jones said.

The School is Cool program is supported by a $7,500 grant from the Fort Collins-based Bohemian Foundation with assistance from the CSU Bookstore and members of the community.

For more information about School is Cool, visit www.schooliscool.colostate.edu.

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