Staples Worker Gets $5,000 For Verona Music Program

Staples Foundation, the private charitable arm of Staples, Inc., has awarded $5,000 to Little Kids Rock, Inc. under a program that lets Staples associates direct donations. The Staples associate who directed the funds, Paul Kneis, volunteers quarterly with the organization and for the third year in the row, Paul and his fellow Staples associates will volunteer at Little Kids Rock, Inc., which is located on Grove Avenue in Verona.

The Staples Foundation Grant will benefit their Modern Band program, providing an initial one-day new teacher workshop to recruit, train, and equip school teachers to start Modern Band music programs. Little Kids Rock, Inc. empowers students and their teachers to use music for its primary purpose: as a communication tool. With a very basic set of initial skills, students begin to use music to express themselves and communicate with others in ways that affect all other aspects of the student’s life.

The grants are part of a philanthropic initiative created by Staples Foundation which allows Staples associates around the world to direct funding to non-profit organizations that are focused on education or job skills. The program, called 2 Million and Change, encourages local community engagement by awarding larger grants to organizations where associates are highly engaged in volunteering or fundraising – up to $25,000 per organization.

In an effort to further highlight associates’ involvement, Staples has launched a new Community Heroes program which honors highly active and devoted associates in their respected communities. Each quarter, five finalists are determined by the Staples Foundation Board and voting is opened to associates via text. One associate is chosen as the Community Hero per quarter where they will be awarded with a plaque of recognition, a free day off of work to volunteer and a $5,000 grant to the organization they selected through 2 Million & Change.

In 2014, Staples directed grants to 990 domestic organizations in 47 states in support of education and job skills programs, including tutoring for pediatric cancer patients, job skills development for individuals with disabilities, school supplies, mentoring and more.

“Staples Foundation is committed to encouraging associates around the globe to make a difference in their local communities and through 2 Million and Change we enable them to directly support the programs where they personally see the greatest need,” said Katy Dobbs, director of global community and giving for Staples, Inc. “We are thrilled to see more associates participating in this program every year, and we’re proud to help them support the charities they care about most.”