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On Wednesday, June 5, Paige Davis, host of TLC’s Trading Spaces and Board Member of Volunteers of America-Greater New York (VOA-GNY), was at The Plaza to lend her support to Operation Backpack® 2019 – a program that provides top-quality backpacks filled with school supplies to every child experiencing homelessness in NYC shelters.
Davis was on hand at the annual Operation Backpack® Kickoff Breakfast, joining leaders from real estate, publishing, retail, education and other industries to learn what they can do to support this invaluable program, which is 100% dependent on the generosity of the public.
Operation Backpack®, a community service of Volunteers of America-Greater New York, now in its 16th year, has outfitted more than 180,000 homeless NYC students with top-quality backpacks fully-stocked with grade-appropriate school supplies. Last year alone, the initiative fulfilled every request it received and provided 20,000 backpacks to students in pre-K through 12th grade. This year, the Operation Backpack® public drive kicks off on July 8 and runs through August 2, 2019. For information visit: www.OperationBackpackNYC.org
Davis has been actively involved with Volunteers of America-Greater New York for more than a decade and serves as spokesperson for Operation Backpack®.
Breakfast speakers included Steven Banks, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Social Services; Joslyn Carter, Administrator, NYC Department of Homeless Services; Tere Pettitt, President & CEO, Volunteers of America-Greater New York; and Rachel Weinstein, Operation Backpack® Founder and VP, Communications and External Relations, Volunteers of America-Greater New York.
Also in attendance was Wendy Williams, host of The Wendy Williams Show.
Operation Backpack® sponsors to date include RXR Realty, NYC Department of Education, Walgreens/Duane Reade, The Weeks Lerman Group, HarperCollins Publishers, and FedEx.
