Local Citizens Banks Collecting Back-to-School Gear

As a way to help local children go back to school with the supplies they need to succeed, Citizens Bank has launched its annual Gear for Grades program.

Customers and the public are welcome to support the initiative by donating new items like pencils, folders, notebooks, rulers and other supplies at any Citizens Bank branch in western Pennsylvania through Aug. 9. 

Citizens Bank is donating 4,550 backpacks to the Gear for Grades program. Of those, 2,200 backpacks will go to the Homeless Children’s Education Fund for children in western Pennsylvania. Each backpack will be filled with some of the most needed supplies including child-safe scissors, pencils, pens, erasers, pocket folders, spiral notebooks, crayons, washable markers, rulers, glue sticks, colored pencils, pencil boxes and index cards. Backpacks will be distributed to local children beginning Aug. 19.

“Helping children to feel excited and ready for the new school year is a small way that we can invest in our communities’ future. We thank everyone who will join us in supporting this year’s Gear for Grades program,” said Daniel K. Fitzpatrick, president of Citizens Bank and RBS Citizens for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. 

According to a National Retail Federation survey, the average American family will spend $688.62 on back-to-school expenses, up from $603.63 last year. For low-income, at-risk or homeless families, the cost of even basic school supplies can be a real burden.

“There are so many children in our state whose families lack the financial resources to purchase the most essential supplies for school,” said Bill Wolfe, executive director of the Homeless Children’s Education Fund. “Every child deserves to have the best chance for success in the classroom and our partnership with Citizens Bank and its Gear for Grades program will help to make that a reality for thousands of children in western Pennsylvania.”