BB&K Stuffs Backpacks With New School Supplies for Growing Population of Homeless Students
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Law Firm is Only Southern California Business to Volunteer
RIVERSIDE, Calif. _ Attorneys and staff at all eight Best Best & Krieger LLP offices across California will volunteer their time this Monday (July 19) to stuff firm-bought and donated backpacks with new school supplies for homeless students.
The effort is part of Operation Backpack, organized by Volunteers of America and held during the summer by various affiliates across the country. BB&K, which has offices in Sacramento and Walnut Creek, is participating in the effort organized by the Greater Sacramento & Northern Nevada affiliate of Volunteers of America.
BB&K purchased 350 backpacks at a reduced rate from JanSport, which itself donated 50 backpacks. The backpacks will be stocked for students from kindergarten to 12th grade with supplies donated by OfficeMax and Bluebird Office Supplies. The supplies will include, depending on grade level, such items as spiral notebooks, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, calculators, pens, crayons, glue sticks, three-ring binders and flash drives.
“We believe that every student should have the chance to start off the school year with all of the essential tools they need to be successful. For homeless children, in particular, we felt this was a simple way to help provide some normalcy in their lives," said Jamie Zamoff, BB&K’s chief operating officer.
Maria Casas, the firm’s operations manager, said the goal is to have every staff member and attorney stuff at least one backpack on Monday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Zamoff said BB&K decided to undertake the effort, in part, to unite the firm’s eight offices by giving back to communities across California as BB&K represents school districts and other clients statewide. He also said the firm’s attorneys and staff wanted to actively participate in a charitable cause rather than simply donate money.
“We looked at a number of different charities and Operation Backpack gave us the best chance to do the most good for the most people, especially at a time when the ongoing economic crisis has caused more families to be homeless,” Zamoff said.
A report released in April by the Western Center on Law & Poverty showed that homelessness among California school children has skyrocketed in recent years. Using data from the California Department of Education, the center’s study found that more than 288,000 children were homeless in the 2008-2009 academic year, an increase of 28 percent from the previous year.
Once the backpacks are stocked with supplies at BB&K offices, they will either be picked up or taken to various drop-off areas on July 23 so they can be distributed to homeless shelters and school districts.
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