• Today, we're partnering with Tony Sellers and Feed the Children to provide homeless kids with backpacks filled with school supplies, snacks, and even hygiene items – all for just $18 each. Call (888) 276-3663 to help these kids living right in our backyards.
• I'm asking you to sponsor 5 of these kids for $90, or 10 of them for $180, or a whole classroom of 20 for $360 – or a whole elementary school (K-6) for $2,520. All gifts $50 or more gets Larry Jones' book "Keep Walking."
• 40% of "the homeless" in America are children, and the average age of the homeless is just 6 years old. Right now, there are 900,000 homeless students in our public schools. These children are twice as likely to repeat a grade, and half as likely to graduate from college.
• Thousands of kids right here in LA every day go to school without a lunch and without school supplies, often because a single mom is struggling just to provide the essentials for her family. Too often, mom has to decide between food or gas – many are living in shelters or their cars. They're homeless for all kinds of reasons – usually a parent has lost a job, there's been a divorce, a big health expense or some other unexpected bill, and sometimes there's been abuse. These are families who just can't afford to worry about "luxury items" like pens, paper, and glue sticks.
• The backpacks are filled with: pencils, a pencil case, a pencil sharpener, notebooks, a ruler, erasers, a glue stick, safety scissors, crayons, folders, highlighter, toothbrush, soap, shampoo, comb, snacks and other food items. All for just $18! The backpacks are age-appropriate, e.g., the older kids get calculators rather than crayons. And, they look like all the other kids, the backpacks won't make them look special.
• FTC was founded by Larry Jones and wife Frances in 1979. They've distributed 120,000 backpacks to homeless students the past two years, and the plan is to distribute 100,000 more this year.
• FTC distributes food in all 50 states and has distributed food to over 118 countries since 1979. They supplement 800,000 meals a day worldwide. 83% of all giving goes to "program services": childcare, food, medical, disaster relief, education, and community development.
• FTC assists children and families without charge. Nearly all the food is donated by food producers. Donors are just paying for the distribution and delivery. $7.00 of food is distributed for each dollar donated.
