La Jolla, CA (February 6, 2015) – Continuing its tradition of giving back to the community, Farmers Insurance executives and volunteers delivered 500 backpacks filled with food for students of the Doris Miller Elementary School.
For the fifth year in a row, Farmers Insurance teamed up with Blessings in a Backpack to provide healthy weekend meals to children at Doris Miller Elementary in San Diego, California. Blessings in a Backpack is a unique program designed to feed students on the free and federal reduced meal program who don’t have enough food to eat on the weekend. At Doris Miller, more than 90-percent of the students have one or both parents in active duty military positions. The program has shown measurable results leading to better test scores, improved reading skills, positive behavior and increased attendance.
“Since Farmers Insurance was founded, a major key part of our mission has been to give back to communities. This year, in addition to providing backpacks to the children of the Doris Miller School, we also launched our Thank America’s Teachers coast-to-coast tour earlier this week to say thank you to our nation’s teachers,” said Bryan Murphy, president of business insurance for Farmers Insurance.
Featuring an iconic yellow school bus that will travel coast-to-coast providing the public with opportunities to say thank you to teachers who have made a difference in their lives, the Farmers Thank America’s Teachers initiative will also invite the nation to help Farmers give away more than $1 million in educational grants to teachers.
At stops in communities across the country, America can join the Thank America’s Teachers bus tour to share a thank you and vote for a teacher’s proposal. The bus tour schedule will be posted at www.ThankAmericasTeachers.com, and updated regularly as new stops are added.
“This week is an important week for us,” continued Murphy. “Not only do we get to help support local schools and educators in the San Diego area, but we also launched a national initiative to thank and give back to teachers across the country.”
According to Doris Miller Principal Stacy Jones, a large percentage of the students have at least one parent who is either actively serving or recently retired from military service and will benefit greatly by the Blessings in a Backpack program.
“We’re thankful to Farmers Insurance for helping these families make ends meet and giving back to the San Diego community,” said Jones.
“We have enjoyed a wonderful partnership with the Doris Miller School and Farmers. These backpacks give children the food they need during those times when free or reduced-priced school lunches are not available, such as on weekends,” said Beth Bush, director of partnerships for Blessings in a Backpack. “We are honored to be starting our fifth year with Farmers Insurance and the Farmers Insurance Open, and together, we can fight to end childhood hunger.”
About Blessings in a Backpack
Blessings in a Backpack, People Magazines Charity of 2012, is a results-oriented program that is designed to feed elementary school children whose families qualify for the federally funded National School Lunch Program and have little or no food on the weekends. Better test scores, improved reading skills, positive behavior, improved health and increased attendance have all been attributed to the success of this program. As little as $80 feeds one American school child in our program for an entire 38-week school year. Blessings in a Backpack is currently feeding over 63,000 children in 44 states, the District of Columbia and 577 schools. Please visit www.blessingsinabackpack.org.
We are Feeding the Future of America® – one school at a time
