Kenneth Jacobson0:00
I was introduced to Back-to-School Kohl's Drive through a need the organization had for treasurer. My background is a CPA, so I have an accounting background, and I wanted to give back to the community. Back-to-School had an open need, so I met with Karl over coffee and decided it would be a good fit. I went to the next board meeting, and the rest is history.
Well, Back-to-School has always been a grassroots community organization led by the volunteerism of the board and many other dedicated volunteers. But what we've seen happen to Back-to-School over the past ten years is really evolving into a much broader and more established organization: more significant fundraising, more significant establishment of programs, lots of recognition through various means, and really taking their organization to be more viable for the future.
During my time at Back-to-School, we really grew the Student Attire for Education program. The thing I would say is that we help about 5,000 kids every summer in our New Clothes, New District, New Beginnings signature event. When you think about 5,000 kids, it sounds like a lot, but in a given time when you're in the gymnasium, you're only seeing anywhere from two to four hundred kids. But when you're setting up for the event, when you're prepping and you see pallets and pallets full of clothing and belts and underwear and everything else, you really get a better perspective on the true impact that Back-to-School has in the community. That's a lot of pallets and a lot of work to get this thing set up, and you can really see the true volume and the true impact of boxes and boxes full of goods we're giving out. So that's really what hit home to me: how significant this program is and how much the local schools have really relied on it to kick-start the new school year each year.
Well, my favorite department is Stitches to Love because that's a gimme. I'll say the shoe department is great. I had a couple great experiences in the shoe department. When you're giving these kids brand new shoes that are all their own, it's really impactful. You can see their faces light up when you're trying them on, and there's a lot of excitement throughout the day. But the shoe department probably is my favorite.
Outside of that, Back-to-School is very important for a couple reasons. One is that the need in the valley is great, and you can see it at this event. We can only help a fraction of the kids who really need help. But really what it does is allows the children to level-set with their peers and really be set up and prepared so they can focus on learning. They can have the confidence they need in how they look so they can really focus on what's important: getting an education and hopefully going to college someday. So what we really do is set them up for success on the first day. It's really important because small things like a new school uniform, new shoes, a backpack really set the tone for the school year, and you can see it on the face of the kids. We need everyone's support more than ever. There is so much need in the Phoenix area. I think that if you have a chance to see the impact we have on some of these kids, and you've seen through the videos and all the testimonials, you can see that $100 to help a kid set them up for the first day of school is a small ask for the benefit that you're paying for.
