Citizens Bank is helping 500 Vermont students start the school year with new backpacks filled with school supplies through its Gear for Grades program. More than 4,250 pencils, pens, folders, notebooks, glue sticks and index cards were donated by the public in all 21 branches across Vermont. This year’s Gear for Grades program is supported by Mix 98.1/WJJR, 1230 WJOY and KOOL 105.
According to a National Retail Federation survey, the average American family spent $688.62 in 2012 on back-to-school expenses. For low-income, at-risk or homeless families, the cost of even basic school supplies can be a burden.
‘With the rising cost of school supplies, the Gear for Grades program helps to ease the financial strain parents face this time of year as they prepare to send their children back to school,’ said Joe Carelli, President, Citizens Bank and RBS Citizens, Vermont. ‘We are proud to play a small role in contributing to the academic success of so many local children who return to the classroom ready to learn. We thank our customers and the general public who continue to support this program by donating new school supplies that make a big difference to the children who receive them.
On Wednesday, August 28, children in Burlington received backpacks filled with school supplies as part of the Gear for Grades program by Citizens Bank. This year, more than 4,250 pencils, pens, folders, notebooks, glue sticks and index cards were donated by the public in all 21 branches across Vermont. From left: Keanu Foster, Kathryn Boardman, Mortgage Loan Officer, Citizens Bank, Madilyn Bilodeau.
The Gear for Grades program is a part of Citizens Helping Citizens Strengthen Communities, the bank’s program for contributing to the economic vitality of communities. Citizens Bank colleagues and community members volunteered to help fill the supplies in logo-free backpacks donated by Citizens Bank Foundation to help ensure children have a positive experience as they return to the classroom. The backpacks will be will be distributed to designated youth serving agencies including: local Boys & Girls Club of Rutland, Boys & Girls Club of Burlington, Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro, COTS, LUND and the Springfield Parent Child Center.
Backpacks were distributed to more than 38,000 children across RBS Citizens Financial Group’s footprint where it operates as Citizens Bank in New England and the Mid-Atlantic and Charter One in the Midwest. Since 2003, the Gear for Grades program has sent more than 253,000 children from low-income families back to school with tools to help them learn.
Citizens Helping Citizens Strengthen Communities is part of the bank’s broader Citizens Helping Citizens program addressing five key areas: hunger, housing, economic development, financial education and volunteerism. Get more information about Citizens Bank’s community initiatives online.
About Citizens Helping Citizens
Grounded in the belief that a good bank gives back to its community and to the people who live there, Citizens Helping Citizens is a program embracing the community goals of RBS Citizens Financial Group, Inc. ‘ the commercial bank holding company serving consumer and small business customers as Citizens Bank and Charter One and commercial banking customers as RBS Citizens. The Citizens Helping Citizens program comprises five key initiatives supported directly by RBSCFG and also by its nonprofit charitable foundations, the Citizens Charitable Foundation, the Citizens Bank Foundation and the Charter One Foundation: Citizens Helping Citizens Fight Hunger, Citizens Helping Citizens Provide Shelter, Citizens Helping Citizens Strengthen Communities (economic development), Citizens Helping Citizens Teach Money Management (financial education) and Citizens Helping Citizens Give (volunteerism and colleague charitable donations). Across all of these initiatives, Citizens Helping Citizens strives to enhance quality of life and economic vitality in local communities.
About Citizens Bank
Citizens Bank is a division of RBS Citizens, N.A., operating its seven-state branch network in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. It has 21 branches and 40 ATMs in Vermont.
Source: Citizens Bank 8.29.2013