Lee County’s Largest Back-to-School Outreach Program Announces New Date, Name, Logo & Fundraiser

May 14, 2010 - PRLog -- Fort Myers, FL – Friday, May 13, 2010 -  The Multicultural Centre of Southwest Florida announces the date and new name for this year’s 11th Annual  Back-To-School Festival & School Supply Giveaway. The event is scheduled for Sunday, August 1, 2010 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Harborside Event Center, and is open to the public at no charge. This year the organization  is unveiling a fresh new name and logo for the event.

“For 11 years the community has often referred to our back-to-school community outreach program as “the big backpack event”, so we decided to make it official,” says event organizer, Connie Ramos-Williams of CONRIC PR & Marketing.  

The Multicultural Centre of Southwest Florida’s main goal each year is to support students in need while celebrating the diversity in our community.  

“The new name, tagline and logo represents our mission and goal,” says Leonardo Garcia, Founder of the Multicultural Centre and President of HABA.

The BIG Backpack Event has grown over the past eleven years, serving more than 2,000 elementary kids in need with free backpacks and school supplies each year. The event draws a crowd of 12,000 – 15,000 people.  This free family fun event offers free backpacks and school supplies to the first 2,000 elementary age kids. Other free services and activities provided include: eye exams, hair cuts, finger printing, face painting, bounce houses, inflatable slides, plus meet and greets with characters such as Pirate of the Caribbean, Missy Miracle, Swampee, and more. There is also a full day of live multicultural entertainment on the main stage that celebrate the diversity in our community,  including salsa, hip hop, Irish Step, singers, martial arts and more.

The Multicultural Centre of Southwest Florida, their BOD, and team of volunteers donate 100% of their time to fundraising for the event each year. They ask the community to contribute to their Adopt-A-Student Fundraiser. Every $10 raised adopts a student and provides them with a new backpack and school supplies at the event. Woman’s Life of SWFL and the Multicultural Centre are hosting a Brunch For Backpacks on Saturday June 19th from 11-2 at The Edison Restaurant. The cost is just $25 per person and includes entertainment,  lunch, beverage, special celebrity guests, silent auction and gold exchange. The organization is hoping to sell a minimum of 100 tickets to the Brunch for Backpacks and encourage people to donate their broken or unwanted gold, which will be turned into cash and donated to the Adopt-A-Student program courtesy of Gold2Cash.org.

For more information or to make an online donation please visit https://www.multiculturalcentre.org, call 239-561-7345, or email multicultural@juno.com. Tax deductible donations can also be mailed to The Multicultural Centre of SWFL at P.O. Box 61713 Fort Myers, Florida 33906

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The Multicultural Centre of SWFL is a nonprofit 501 (c) 3 that supports students in need and celebrates and promotes diversity. Leonardo Garcia and Jim White are the co-founders of the organization, which host an annual event for more than 12,000 people - serving new backpacks and school supplies to children in need. Connie Ramos-Williams has been the event organizer for several years.