TI Silicon Valley employees rallied recently to ensure 883 low-income children will receive the backpacks and supplies they need to start the upcoming school year off right.

Employees donated 34 backpacks and contributed $14,459 to the Family Giving Tree's Back to School Drive, $10,000 of which was matched by the TI Community Fund.

The National First Credit Union also contributed $1,000 to the effort, which brought the total raised to $25,459. These results represent a 36 percent increase over TI's goal of 650 backpacks.

"TI has been a fantastic partner in the Back-to-School Drive this year as the lead sponsor and by donating 400 TI scientific calculators," said Jennifer Cullenbine, founder and "Queen Elf" of the Family Giving Tree, the organization that hosts the drive.

"TI employees have been so generous with their donations and volunteer time as well."

She said the employees' generosity will make a huge difference for hundreds of children who normally go without the basic tools they need to be successful in school.

Need is great
More than 325,000 children in the San Francisco Bay Area do not have the means to start school with the basic tools to succeed.

To help address this need, TI Silicon Valley participated in the Back-to-School Drive this summer. Through these efforts, the site will help the Family Giving Tree provide backpacks and supplies to more than 15,000 children who would otherwise start off the school year at a disadvantage.

This is the fourth year that the company has held the drive on campus, but it is the first year TI has been the presenting sponsor of the campaign.

TI's Education Technology Group also supported the effort by donating 400 TI scientific calculators.

Just last week, the calculators were distributed with new backpacks with supplies to students at Downtown College Prep, a public charter school for low-income students who will be the first in their families to attend college. Read related article.

Twenty-eight TI employees served as back-to-school drive coordinators encouraging their co-workers to participate in the program.

By setting goals, coordinating competitions and sharing information at meetings and lunchtime booths in the café, the volunteers raised more than $14,000 in employee donations.

In addition to donations, during two lunchtimes, 41 TI employees volunteered at the café to assembly backpacks and supplies purchased with donations. Thirty TI volunteers also sorted donated backpacks at the Family Giving Tree warehouse.

"The annual Back to School Drive is one of our most popular community efforts in Santa Clara," said Joan Scott, director of Community Relations in Santa Clara.

"We are thrilled with the outpouring of generosity shown by TI employees, both in terms of donations and volunteer hours. Hundreds of children will benefit from their thoughtfulness."