She sniffled back tears of joy, hugging each one of us, as a couple of her staff wheeled carts of backpacks into the school. Over 300 of the children in her school would go home with backpacks that night.

This kind of generosity makes a huge impact on the lives of the students, staff and families of School 79. And we couldn’t have done it without our partners at Huntington Bank. Because of their generosity and the willing participation of Big Lots and Meijer, we can help a principal give her students the tools they’ll need to succeed this year.

If your business or organization would like to give back to your community, give Kristen a call at 224-1019.

Huntington's President Mike Newbold and Major Dick Amick team up to get backpacks to kids in need in time for school.

Thanks to our friends at Huntington Bank, hundreds of children will have the tools they need to start school next week. Huntington’s President, Mike Newbold, presented 450 backpacks and supplies to Major Amick this morning. He shared, “Huntington is committed to helping families save, budget and spend wisely, but we wanted to do more. We’re proud to say we have 1,000 backpacks and school supplies to give here in Indianapolis.”

Huntington teamed up with Big Lots and Meijer to set a goal to help 100,000 children in need in the communities they serve. Major Amick proudly accepted the backpacks saying, “Certainly as parents are struggling to provide housing and necessities, school supplies slip down the list of priorities. It’s our challenge and our priviledge to come alongside them and give them encouragement. These backpacks will do just that for hundreds of families and we couldn’t do that without our partners at Huntington Bank.”

These backpacks will be distributed to kids who’ve attended our daycamps throughout the summer as well as kids staying at our homeless and domestic violence shelters. We will also be coordinating our efforts with co-recipients, Mashariki Jywanza (IPS Bridges to Success program) and Maggie McFarlin (Backpack Attack) to make certain that families who are struggling in this economy have one less burden this August.

If your business or organization would like to help families in need right here in our community, call Kristen at 224-1019.