ABC Education Foundation to Deliver Supplies for ABCUSD Students

August 13, 2020, Cerritos, CA—The ABC Education Foundation, with the support of many local donors and supporters, is preparing over 800 backpacks full of school supplies this year as part of their School Essentials for Education Drive (SEED). Supplies and backpacks will be delivered based on wish lists from schools within ABC Unified School District for financially disadvantaged students the week of August 17th. Once received, the schools will work out the best way to distribute the supplies and backpacks to students that need them.

Due to COVID-19 and to protect the safety of volunteers and the community, this year the Foundation purchased prepackaged supplies.

“Unfortunately, we have canceled our packaging event on August 21st at Sears in Los Cerritos Center,” said ABC Education Foundation Board Member and SEED Program Chair, Cindy Yen Chen. “Our board members remain involved and will help deliver all of the backpacks to our schools, but we want to minimize the risk of any major gathering to assemble the backpacks. “

The ABC Education Foundation has been raising funds throughout the community since 2012 for this project and has distributed backpacks to over 6,000 students over the years.

Working directly with principals and social workers at ABCUSD, the ABC Education Foundation ordered supplies based on perceived needs for students at home with virtual learning or for the classroom. The supplies included items like earbuds this year, along with paper, pencils, binders, folders, and other materials to keep students organized whether they are learning virtually or in the classroom.

This year, the funds for backpacks and supplies came from the following organizations: First Choice Bank, LBS Financial Credit Union, PIH Health, Hensen Family Giving Fund, School on Wheels, Celia & Howard Spitzer, Conant Family Foundation, State Bank of India, Golden State Water Company, Apple, Soroptimist International Artesia-Cerritos, AALRR, GOPIO (LA), Water Replenishment District (WRD), Sherre Titus, Shaila Patankar, and many other individual donors. Los Cerritos Center, a generous and consistent supporter of the ABC Education Foundation, donated the space at Sears for preparing backpacks and supplies for distribution.

About the ABC Education Foundation

The ABC Education Foundation was founded in 2011 to support ABCUSD programs in jeopardy due to budget cuts. From inception through 2018, the Foundation has funded over $350,000 in programs for ABC schools, the majority given to schools through an annual grant program as well as their annual school backpack initiative. The Foundation also helped secure $3.5 million in additional grants for the district in previous years.