Lerner & Rowe assembles team of 30 community volunteers for backpack packing ahead of Chicago giveaway

More than 30 volunteers came together for Lerner & Rowe’s annual backpack packing event on Friday, August 1. The packing took place at the Dean and Barbara White Community Center in Merrillville. Volunteers spent the day loading up the U-Haul truck in preparation for the official backpack giveaway, which is set to take place in Chicago on Sunday, August 3. 

Arianna Baiz, outreach director for Lerner & Rowe, loves how this annual giveaway meets the needs of the kids going back to school.

“We do roughly 1,000 backpacks filled with all the essential school supplies that the families in this community need,” Baiz said. “We don’t put any sort of barrier restrictions as far as income or qualification. It’s really about who wants to come out to get one of these backpacks. We try to make it fun for the kids, so we’ll have a bounce house, food, snacks, and ice cream for them so that it’s more of a celebration.”

Backpacks were filled with supplies such as pencils, pencil cases, notebooks, stacks of paper, scissors, glue sticks, markers, erasers, and more. Multiple organizations such as the Crossroads Chamber, Humane Indiana, and United Way of Northwest Indiana, had volunteers lend a helping hand for the packing event.

“It’s at the heart of everything we do,” Baiz said. “Our staff members come into work every day to work hard and represent our clients. Giveaways like this and partnering with nonprofit organizations are a huge part of what we do.”

Lerner & Rowe does two major annual giveaways. Along with the backpack giveaway, they provide essential food supplies for families during Thanksgiving. Partnering with close to 30 nonprofit organizations, Lerner & Rowe is able to provide support through monetary donations and volunteer projects.

“I always say it’s a two-way street when it comes to making partnerships,” Baiz said. “We never want it to feel transactional. We always want it to feel more like a relationship and a long-term partnership, and our goal is to keep growing every year. 

Jennifer Reed, director of special events at the Crossroads Chamber, has been affiliated with Lerner & Rowe for many years. Participating in an event to pack up backpacks for local children is an opportunity for the Crossroads Chamber to help out in doing something that aligns with their mission

“Lerner & Rowe is one of our executive partners,” Reed said. “They ask us every year if we’d be willing to help out. We get together with our group of ambassadors and anyone who wants to participate as well to not only help our members but also to give back to the community.”

This event is another example of how the community can come together to create a positive impact on the youth. It also allows many of these businesses to build relationships with one another.

“We like to bring the community together and allow businesses to grow and network with each other,” Reed said. “To see all of these backpacks get filled and dispersed into the community makes this such an awesome event, and we’re so thankful to have Lerner & Rowe do that.”

Whether it’s in the workplace or doing an event for the benefit of the community, Lerner & Rowe is motivated to be present, accountable, and involved. Staying true to that philosophy by preparing kids for another incredible school year is one of the many ways they can accomplish this feat.

“It’s really important for the community members and businesses to understand how much of a need this is in the community, and that’s not going away anytime soon,” Baiz said. “If we can all work together, the impact and the change that we can make can be really strong. When you see that smile on a child’s face during the giveaway of getting a new backpack to start the school year, that’s the impact we can make working together.”

For more information on Lerner & Rowe, you can visit lernerandrowe.com.