MERRILL, Wis. –Church Mutual Insurance Company employees volunteered Aug. 14 to fill 200 backpacks with school supplies for Operation Homefront’s Back-to-School Brigade.
More than 20 volunteers helped pick up, unpack and sort more than 60 boxes of school supplies donated by shoppers at 10 Dollar Tree stores from as far away as Plover and Minocqua. The supplies were then stuffed into the backpacks that will be distributed to children of military families around the country.
“It’s a good program, it really does help out,” said Rebecca Voelker, who coordinates the Back-to-School Brigade project for Church Mutual. “We’re honored to know that the backpacks we’re filling here will be distributed to children of military families.”
Darcy Clardy, senior director of Operation Homefront, picked up the backpacks at Church Mutual’s CM2 location, ready to be delivered to military children in time for the start of a new school year.
“It’s important for military families to know that there are people out in the community that recognize what they do,” Clardy said.
This was the fourth year Church Mutual has been involved in the Back-to-School Brigade project.
“Here at Church Mutual, we are driven by a commitment to serve those who serve others,” said Kevin Root, executive vice president-Operations. “Veterans represent service in the very best sense of the word. That’s why we generously support Operation Homefront, Never Forgotten Honor Flight, the Northwoods Veterans Post and other important initiatives here and around the country.”
Operation Homefront, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, assists military families during difficult financial times, providing food assistance, home and auto repair, for example, and helping families gain long-term stability.