Sysco Foods LA hosts backpack giveaway for THINK Together students in the Bassett Unified School District

Employees from Sysco Foods LA volunteered their time early on a Saturday morning to fill up 550 backpacks with back to school items for THINK Together students in the Bassett Unified School District.

This is the second giveaway that Sysco has held in partnership with THINK Together. The first event was a Food giveaway. These giveaways are a great example of what community partnerships can accomplish. Sometimes, it does take a village!

“We were so joyful about going to Office Depot and Staples to make sure students had everything they needed in their backpacks,” said Danielle Ellis-Stevens, assistant to senior vice president of merchandising  for Sysco Foods Los Angeles.

During the week of Aug. 20, which was back to school week, seven Sysco volunteers visited Don Julian, Vanwig, Sunkist, Edgewood, and Torch to giveaway fully stocked backpacks to THINK Together students.

“I want to thank Sysco for caring about the students from THINK Together,” said sixth grader America Huerta. “You make the students and I very happy. You must feel great for making us feel proud!”

The backpack items were selected specifically for different grade levels. The backpacks were filled with the following items: three ring binders, calculators, rulers, pencil pouches, paper, glue sticks, pencils and erasers and dividers.

Albert Cahueque, principal at Edgewood Academy, enjoyed watching his students’ excitement when receiving their backpacks from Sysco.

“This was a wonderful event and it could have not come a better time with this being the start of the school year and the beginning of our journey,” he said. “We consider all of our students as scholars because they are all college bound. For the business community to reinforce exactly what we have been telling them could not have worked out any better. We are really grateful to Sysco and we love what THINK Together is doing on our campus.”

THINK Together’s staff is also encouraged by the partnership with Sysco.

“Sysco has great ideas on how to support our programs and local community,” said Jami Mendoza, THINK Together quality assurance coach. “I’m really excited for this partnership and for their continued volunteer support.”

The support THINK Together students receive from the community provides them with the tools and resources they need in order to reach their full potential.

SHARE