Caring Causes: Office Depot Education Initiatives

Every child deserves to start the school year with a backpack and essential school supplies, but the sad reality is many families can’t afford these items. Making a difference to change this is The Office Depot Foundation and its National Backpack Program, which over the past 12 years has provided more than 2.9 million backpacks to children around the world. This year, to mark the 13^th anniversary of the National Backpack Program, the Office Depot Foundation will donate 300,000 backpacks with essential school supplies to deserving children in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and internationally. By the end of 2013, Office Depot and the Office Depot Foundation will have donated more than 3 million backpacks and sackpacks since the inception of the program in 2001. 

Plus, there are a lot of programs to help teachers out.

·         School Supplies Checklist: With this digital planning tool and simple-to-use online platform, teachers can build, store and share checklists of required school supplies with parents and students allowing them to conveniently browse and purchase this year’s essentials directly from the website or by printing the list for fast, in-store shopping.

·         5% Back to Schools Program: To help teachers, parents and schools earn free supplies and alleviate out-of-pocket expenses, every School Supplies Checklist that a teacher creates links to their corresponding school code so that shoppers who use their teacher’s list can help their schools get 5% back for free supplies.

·         Teacher Appreciation Events: Office Depot celebrates hard-working teachers for their dedication and commitment to students’ success. Beginning in late July, Office Depot will host its annual, complimentary Teacher Appreciation Breakfast to kick off eight days of teacher shopping advantages.

·         Teacher Rewards Program: Members receive personalized promotions on products or services that are relevant to them, access to special in-store events and exclusive pre-sale offers on new products, allowing educators to choose how they get rewarded.