BRATTLEBORO — Citizens Bank recently helped 500 Vermont students, including 30 members of the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro, start the school year with new backpacks filled with school supplies through its Gear for Grades program.
More than 4,250 pencils, pens, folders, notebooks, glue sticks, and index cards were donated by the public in all 21 branches across Vermont as part of this year's Gear for Grades program.
According to a National Retail Federation survey, the average American family spent $688.62 on back-to-school expenses in 2012. For low-income, at-risk or homeless families, the cost of even basic school supplies can be a burden.
Since 2003, the Gear for Grades program has sent more than 253,000 children from low-income families back to school with tools to help them learn.
In Vermont, backpacks were also distributed to designated youth-serving agencies, including the Boys & Girls Club of Rutland and Burlington, the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS), and the Springfield Parent Child Center.
Backpacks were distributed to more than 38,000 children across RBS Citizens Financial Group's footprint where it operates as Citizens Bank in New England and the Mid-Atlantic and Charter One in the Midwest.