Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” At TargetX, we know the importance of investing not just in our local communities, but in the power of education for our youth. Primarily, we focus our day-to-day jobs in higher education, but as our team members learned, obtaining an education is not always easy. The struggle for access to a quality education is not just in colleges and universities across the globe – it is closer to home, in our local elementary schools. Our understanding of the need for a proper education from K-12 is why TargetX continues to be a proud local sponsor of Cradles to Crayons.

In early August, as part of TargetX’s Power of X initiative, team members participated in the Cradles to Crayons’ Backpack-A-Thon in Philadelphia. We worked with nearly 600 volunteers to stuff over 30,000 backpacks with the school supplies students would need for the start of the academic year. The non-profit organization’s mission is to provide children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school, and play.

According to their website:

  • More than 305,000 Massachusetts children, 12 years old and younger, live in low-income or poverty-stricken households. In any given year, more than 100,000 of them will experience homelessness.
  • According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Philadelphia has the highest poverty rate among the nation’s ten largest cities. Nearly one in four Philadelphians, including 130,000 children, live in poverty.
  • Approximately 200,000 children in Chicago live in poverty – that’s one in three children.

As a company, TargetX is committed to giving back and ensuring every child is provided the necessities to help them be mentally, emotionally, and physically prepared for school. Through our Power of X team, we have worked to nurture and expand TargetX’s annual commitment of giving back to our local communities and our clients. Supported by leadership as well as staff in every department of the company, the Power of X team has not only raised money and resources, but shown up in person in local communities to bring food, clothes, and laptops to those in need.

Every team member who participated in the Backpack-A-Thon left the event encouraged and happy to know that the short time we spent there would make a difference for over 30,000 children in our area. Though we may never see the excitement on the children’s faces when they open the backpacks – we are confident we left parts of our hearts with each one of them!

Thanks to TargetX Project Manager & Power of X committee member, Joshua Schwartz, for contributing.