Volunteers Prepare 22,000 Free Schoolbags For Needy Area Kids
By John McDevitt
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Hundreds of volunteers spent their day today packing school supplies for thousands of needy children in the area.
There were numerous assembly lines at Lincoln Financial Field, where volunteers were moving to the beat and packing schoolbags with items such as pencils, composition books, and folders.
"It's important to make sure the kids of Philadelphia have the right supplies to go back to school," said one volunteer, Megan, "and if we can do something to help that out, that's why we are here. And to have fun!"
"This is a huge effort," notes Michael Smith, executive director of Cradles to Crayons. "This has been a unique example, I think, of the entire community in Philadelphia coming together: Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles, corporate partners from all over the disciplines, and then community partners like the United Way and Cradles to Crayons. It's really a whole city striving to start children off right," he says.
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Organizers say that regardless of income, all children deserve the chance to go to school prepared.
Twenty-two thousand low-income children will be the recipients of the school supplies.
