Henry Schein, Inc. is helping children around the world return to the classroom through its 24th annual “Back to School” programme. This year, Team Schein members at 22 locations in the United States, Canada, Spain, and Ireland are donating backpacks filled with school supplies to almost 4,500 children.
Since the programme’s inception in 1998, the company has helped more than 60,000 children start a new school year with confidence. At each Henry Schein location, teams work with local social service agencies to pre-identify participating children and their families. The “Back to School” programme is a flagship initiative of Henry Schein Cares, the company’s global corporate social responsibility programme.
“Our ‘Back to School’ programme has evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic to safely meet the needs of our neighbours, and the spirit of our Team Schein Members is stronger than ever,” said Gerry Benjamin, executive vice-president and chief administrative officer of Henry Schein. “We are so pleased to help children in need return to the classroom with confidence and ready to meet the challenges of a new school year.”
“Thanks to initiatives such as Henry Schein’s Back to School programme, the children of the socio-educational project that we have developed in Puente Vallecas, Madrid, can have brand new backpacks, school supplies, and clothes with which to face the return to school more easily,” said Beatriz Lopez, social worker at ICEAS Asociación (The Association for Cooperation and Social Support for School Integration). “Initiatives of this nature favour equal opportunities for boys and girls since it is possible that they can wear new clothes and bring new material to school just like the rest of their classmates.”
“We’re so very grateful to Henry Schein for all their years of service to us and to our families and children,” said Mark Wenzel, assistant director of the Long Island, New York-based YES Community Counseling Center. “There’s nothing more important than a young person starting a school year feeling good about themselves and having the tools that they need. Henry Schein has been providing those tools to our children, so we’re very grateful and we just want to say, ‘thank you’.”
