MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Military families received free back-to-school supplies at Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary School here Aug. 24, thanks to a donation from a local business.
The donation came just in time - five days before students returned to Camp Pendleton’s schools for the 2005-2006 school year.
Camp Pendleton’s Office Depot donated 725 backpacks filled with school supplies to Mary Fay Camp Pendleton Elementary students.
In addition to the backpacks, the school received office chairs, two pallets of paper, four pallets of cardboard tubes, 10 cases of toilet paper and 10 cases of facial tissue.
Office Depot sells supplies to Marine and sailors aboard Camp Pendleton and has donated approximately 880,000 backpacks to children across the nation in the last three years, according to Sun Yi Scott, the store’s manager.
The store wanted to do something to support military families, said Scott.
The donations will help ease expenses in the household and the families are going to appreciate the help, said Lynn E. Gilstrap, the school’s principal.
Children gathered in excitement to receive their backpacks, which were filled with pencils and other supplies.
“It’s pretty cool that we got all of this free stuff,” said Hector J. Rodriguez, a 5th grade student. “I will definitely use it when we start school next week.”
“This is actually one of the biggest backpack giveaways in the nation,” said Greg Abrahms, Office Depot’s director of military stores division.
Changes such as deployments often leave teachers scrambling for supplies, so donations like this are always well appreciated by schools and student’s families alike, she said.
Budget constraints limit how many supplies, such as toilet paper and facial tissue, the school can buy, said Gilstrap.
“It is nice for Office Depot to step up and do something special for the children,” she said. “Our kids are the unsung heroes, they sacrifice too and they are the most resilient.”
About 800 students are enrolled at the school. Ninety percent are military children and 10 percent are children of civilian employees here.