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Office Depot Helps Tens of Thousands of Students and Teachers Return to the Classroom With Over $3.8 Million in Back-To-School Essentials

By: Office Depot via Business Wire

October 13, 2021 at 09:00 AM EDT

The Company’s Start Proud® Community Investment Program Empowers Students and Teachers to Start the New School Year Feeling Confident, Prepared and Proud

Office Depot, a wholly owned subsidiary of The ODP Corporation (NASDAQ: ODP), a leading provider of business services, products and digital workplace technology solutions through an integrated B2B distribution platform with an online presence and approximately 1,100 stores, today announced that over $3.8 million worth of educational supplies were recently provided to students, teachers and Title I schools across the country as a result of Office Depot’s philanthropic program Start Proud® and the generosity of Office Depot and OfficeMax customers.

For the fourth year in a row, associate volunteers assembled 18,000 premium backpacks filled with over $1.8 million worth of school supplies like notebooks, composition books, crayons, pencils, highlighters and more, to provide to students at more than 25 Title I schools nationwide. With support from Boise Paper and Domtar Paper, each backpack also included one $20 Office Depot gift card for families to purchase additional supplies for their child.

“We’re committed to providing students and teachers the supplies and resources they need to be successful,” said Gerry Smith, chief executive officer for Office Depot. “The Start Proud program continues to bring smiles to the children and staff at Title I schools nationwide, while engaging our associates, our customers, and our communities across the country.”

School administrators, teachers and Office Depot associates teamed up to host celebratory events to distribute the backpacks and welcome students back to school during their first week. Eighteen special teachers were selected by their principals and surprised with Office Depot’s All-Star Teacher award in recognition of their dedication to education and extraordinary contributions to the students beyond the classroom. Each All-Star Teacher was surprised with Office Depot products including new technology, furniture and teaching supplies valued at nearly $2,000.

Office Depot also leveraged its retail footprint to provide customers with the opportunity to support a local Title I school in their area, through a partnership with Round It Up America® (RIUA). Because of the incredible kindness and generosity shown by Office Depot and OfficeMax customers, nearly $2 million has been collected to benefit more than 70 Title I schools. With these additional funds, selected school representatives can enjoy a shopping spree at their local Office Depot or OfficeMax store to get additional learning essentials, technology and personal protective equipment (PPE) into the hands of the teachers, students, and school administrators who need them.

To learn more about Office Depot’s investment in local communities nationwide, visit depotdifference.com.

About Office Depot

Office Depot, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of The ODP Corporation (NASDAQ: ODP), a leading provider of business services and supplies, products and digital workplace technology solutions to small, medium and enterprise businesses, through an integrated business-to-business (B2B) distribution platform, which includes world-class supply chain and distribution operations, dedicated sales professionals and technicians, online presence, and approximately 1,100 stores. Through its banner brands Office Depot® and OfficeMax®, as well as others, the company offers its customers the tools and resources they need to focus on their passion of starting, growing and running their business. For more information, visit news.theodpcorp.com and follow @officedepot on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

ODP and Office Depot are trademarks of The Office Club, Inc. OfficeMax is a trademark of OMX, Inc. CompuCom is a trademark of CompuCom Systems, Inc. Grand&Toy is a trademark of Grand & Toy, LLC in Canada. ©2021 Office Depot, LLC. All rights reserved. Any other product or company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.