InfoWest Hosts 4th Annual Backpack Giveaway

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

A local business has made a tradition out of giving school kids and their parents a little boost of support in the back-to-school runup.

The InfoWest Overton office held its fourth annual School is Cool backpack and school supplies giveaway on Thursday, July 8.

InfoWest provided a total of 200 backpacks full of supplies for the event. And most of them were given out in the first hour or so on Thursday.

There was a lot of anticipation in the air at the start of the giveaway. “We had lines of kids already forming in front of the office at about 9:00 am,” said Janice Hardy of the local InfoWest office. “The kids were excited. We had to remind them that the event wasn’t scheduled to start until 11:30. We hadn’t even got the backpacks here yet from St. George.”

Within a short time, though, Infowest Marketing Director Catherine Larson and a small group of InfoWest staffers from the St. George corporate office had arrived with the goods, and the fun began.

Each backpack included an array of essential school supplies inside. These included pencils, pens, folders, notebooks, glue sticks, crayons, snacks and more. There were even coupons for discounts on custom embroidery next door at Xtreme Stitch & Print.

Hardy said that the popularity of this event has been building over the four years since the tradition began. And the number of backpacks given out keep increasing.

“We started the backpack giveaway here in Overton,” Hardy said. “The company wanted to do something to support and give back to the community. They wanted something that would make an impact for good on people. This is what we came up with and it has been great over the years.”

Hardy said that she could relate a lot of stories from people who have expressed gratitude to InfoWest for hosting this giveaway.

“We have had single grandparents taking care of grandkids, military families, single parents, people who are unemployed or down to just one household income and people who are new to the valley who have just felt welcome,” Hardy said. “We have also heard from larger families in town. You know, you don’t really think of school supplies as a big ticket item really. But when you have to buy them for six kids or more, it can be rough.”

The office was busy with kids coming in during the first hour of the event. Most of the backpacks went out during that period of time. The rest of the day saw a steady flow of children coming in and choosing from what was left, Hardy said.

By the end of the day there were only about 15 backpacks left. “But we did have a bunch of families call in before Thursday and saying that they would be out of town during the giveaway and asking if we could set some aside for them,” Hardy said on the day after the event. “We did that. So I won’t be surprised if we have all the rest given away by today.”

“This is one event that everyone from the InfoWest team looks forward to every year,” said Infowest director of marketing Catherine Larson. “When you see a child come into our office and their face lights up – when you tell them to choose any backpack they want – their reaction is priceless.”

InfoWest Overton offices are located at 196 S Moapa Valley Blvd. InfoWest provides affordable, high-speed internet for residents and businesses in the Moapa Valley. To learn more about the services they provide, visit www.infowest.com.