Local Walgreens (NYSE:WAG)(NASDAQ:
Donation boxes are currently located inside all Pima County and Sierra Vista Walgreens stores for the community to drop off much needed items, such as pencils, notebook paper and crayons. The campaign began Sept. 15 and will run through Oct. 16, benefiting more than 10,000 teachers at public, private and charter schools.
“We believe that teachers shouldn’t pay for school supplies, but they need to be equipped with what they need to do their jobs,” said Bruce Orach, a store manager for Walgreens at 8730 E. Broadway Blvd. in Tucson and the company’s lead contact for the campaign.
Orach said he believes the campaign has been successful so far, as managers have seen large amounts of classroom materials purchased and donated at Walgreens or dropped off from other stores.
“Our team wants to keep the campaign’s momentum going,” he said, “and add to what the community has already started.”
According to Jacquelyn Jackson, executive director of Tucson Values Teachers, teachers spend $500 to $2,000 of their own salary on basic supplies every year.
“With school budgets being slashed, it’s hard for teachers to make sure their students have all the basic supplies to learn properly,” she said. “We shouldn’t be shortchanging our classrooms and we shouldn’t ask teachers to reach into their own pockets to pay for pencils and paper.”
Tom Drexel, co-director of Presidio Charter School in Tucson, said that Walgreens’ paper donation shows his teachers the community is prepared to walk the walk.
“It’s not enough to say that education is important and that it’s a priority,” he said. “We need to show that the teachers here in Southern Arizona are special. A great way to show that is donating like Walgreens has done.”
For more information about Tucson Values Teachers’ supply campaign, visit http://www.tucsonvaluesteachers.org.
ABOUT TUCSON VALUES TEACHERS
Tucson Values Teachers is a regional initiative determined to prove that we should not just talk about the importance of improving education, but must unify in action to retain, recruit and reward our K-12 teachers. The actions TVT takes recognize the critical role of teachers in our region and value the vital influence they have on Tucson's future. For more information, visit http://www.tucsonvaluesteachers.org or call (520) 327-7619.
ABOUT WALGREENS
Walgreens (http://www.walgreens.com) is the nation’s largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2009 sales of $63.3 billion. The company operates 7,042 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Walgreens provides the most convenient access to consumer goods and services and cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services in America through its retail drugstores, Walgreens Health Services division and Walgreens Health and Wellness division. Walgreens Health Services assists pharmacy patients and prescription drug and medical plans through Walgreens Health Initiatives Inc. (a pharmacy benefit manager), Walgreens Mail Service Inc., Walgreens Home Care Inc., Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy LLC and SeniorMed LLC (a pharmacy provider to long-term care facilities). Walgreens Health and Wellness Division includes Take Care Health Systems, the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.
