Celebrities Take Part in National Event to Surprise and Support Teachers
NAPERVILLE, Ill., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, thousands of OfficeMax
associates will be joined by their local community and some of the nation's
most popular celebrities as they surprise each teacher with a classroom
gift worth more than $1000 including a swivel chair, digital camera and
other classroom materials as part of the 'A Day Made Better' national
event. OfficeMax conducts this annual event in schools across the country,
including Alaska, Hawaii, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, to draw national
support for teachers.
This year, 'A Day Made Better' has attracted participation from leading
celebrities. Kicking off on October 1, celebrities including Penny
Marshall, renowned actress and director, Stacey Keibler, 'Dancing with the
Stars' contestant and former WWE standout, and Audrina Patridge from 'The
Hills' will visit Los Angeles area schools to surprise and recognize a
special teacher.
More celebrities are showing their support by sending a special gift to
their favorite teacher including Cindy Crawford, Jimmy Fallon, Dakota
Fanning, Marcia Gay Harden, Dustin Hoffman, Felicity Huffman, Ashton
Kutcher, Julianne Moore, Jeremy Piven, Jeff Probst, Dennis Quaid, Molly
Simms, Jessica Simpson, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and Keisha Whitaker.
"Teachers inspire and shape our country's greatest asset, our children,
and it is astounding that they are left to cover the cost of doing a good
job," said Bob Thacker, senior vice president of marketing for OfficeMax.
"Today, OfficeMax is taking action to inspire a national movement of
grassroots support for teachers."
According to a 2005 National Education Association (NEA) online survey
of more than 3 million members, teachers spend about $1,200 of their own
money each year -- collectively nearly $4 billion annually -- to offset
school budget shortfalls and ensure that children have necessary classroom
resources to learn effectively.
"Recent school budget cuts come at a time when our school is making
academic progress, and the resources made available to our teachers through
'A Day Made Better' are critical to the continued success of our students,"
said Kathleen John-Louissaint, Principal of Morningside Elementary School
in Miami, Florida. "'A Day Made Better' improves teacher morale, provides
more supplies for our children and our classrooms, and ultimately impacts
the quality of education we offer our students."
OfficeMax partners with Adopt-A-Classroom, an innovative not-for-profit
organization supporting teachers in the classroom
(http://www.adoptaclassroom.org), to drive national support direct to
teachers.
"Outside of the home, the teacher is the primary influence on our
children," said Jamie Rosenberg, Founder and Executive Director of
Adopt-A-Classroom, which has raised more than $8 million on behalf of
classrooms since its inception, and will celebrate its tenth anniversary
this November. "Despite the fact that our country will need up to 2.4
million more teachers by 2010, we continue to lose half of our teachers
within their first five years primarily due to lack of support. Today, 'A
Day Made Better' events serve as a wake-up call to the country to show our
teachers need support now."
OfficeMax first launched 'A Day Made Better' events in October 2007,
conducting 1,000 nearly simultaneous classroom surprises all across the
country on a single day. Emphasizing community action, the 2007 campaign
attracted media headlines nationwide and helped Adopt-A-Classroom increase
the number of classrooms adopted for donation by more than 1,400 percent.
About OfficeMax
OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE: OMX) is a leader in both business-to-
business office products solutions and retail office products. The
OfficeMax mission is simple. We help our customers do their best work. The
company provides office supplies and paper, in-store print and document
services through OfficeMax ImPress(R), technology products and solutions,
and furniture to consumers and to large, medium and small businesses.
OfficeMax customers are served by approximately 32,000 associates through
direct sales, catalogs, e-commerce and nearly 1,000 stores. To find the
nearest OfficeMax, call 1-877-OFFICEMAX. For more information, visit
http://www.officemax.com/.
OfficeMax Media Contacts OfficeMax Investor Contact
Bill Bonner Jennifer Rook John Jennings
630 864 6066 630 864 6057 630 864 6820
SOURCE OfficeMax
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.officemax.com
http://www.adoptaclassroom.org
CONTACT:
Media, Bill Bonner, +1-630-864-6066, or
Jennifer Rook, +1-630-864-6057, or Investors, John Jennings,
+1-630-864-6820, all of OfficeMax
|
