By Hedge Fund Insight staff
High Water Women, a leading philanthropic organization focused on financial literacy and initiatives for low-income children, today announced the completion of its 12th annual Backpack Drive, delivering a record 22,000 fully-supplied backpacks to tristate area children in need. The drive was the culmination of a fundraising effort that started in March and raised more than $460,000, allowing volunteers to assemble 20% more backpacks than last year.
More than 4000 donors and volunteers participated in this year’s drive, which took place at more than twenty assembly/distribution locations in New York and Connecticut in July and August. Many financial services and other companies supported the drive and participated in backpack assemblies including: Albourne, Allianz Global Investors, Barclays Center, Barclays Bank, Cambridge Associates, Clearbridge, Brown Advisory, Corbin Capital, Crowe Horwath, Deutsche Bank, Elliot Management, Forester Capital, Garcia Hamilton, Grey Advertising, Hunt Lane Capital, Institutional Investor, Imagineer, Jennison, JP Morgan, Kingdon Capital, KPMG, Mercer (NYC and CT offices), Marilyn Violet Foundation, MetLife, Morgan Stanley, One William Street, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Pershing Square, PineBridge, ProShares, Putnam Investments, Prudential Financial, Reed Smith, Sachem Head Capital, Time Inc., Stone Harbor, Tudor Investment Corp., and William Blair & Company.
Generous donations from the attendees of this year’s Institutional Investor’s annual awards dinners (US Investment Management Awards, and Hedge Fund Industry Awards) plus the Pageant Media and Lipper Mutual Funds Awards Dinners all held during the spring were particularly important to the drive’s success.
Janice Abert, HWW Board of Directors and Chairperson of the Backpack Drive and Managing Partner at Abert Associates said, “Our corporate sponsorship has expanded significantly due to companies wanting to offer their employees a volunteer and community engagement opportunity. Companies are hosting on-site backpack assemblies where representatives from the recipient partners join in and make a presentation about their organizations and the children who will be receiving the backpacks. Employees get so excited participating on an assembly line to stuff the backpacks with school supplies and feel very good about knowing that they’re helping so many children start school ready to learn!”
More than forty participating nonprofits and schools placed orders for the backpacks, with kindergarten, elementary and middle/high schools all receiving different supplies.
According to Sr. Paulette LoMonaco, CEO of Good Shepherd Services, “Our partnership with High Water Women has been vital to Good Shepherd Services which provides essential support to over 30,000 youth families in struggling neighborhoods. This year, nearly 2,000 participants in Good Shepherd’s afterschool programs, community schools and foster care programs will be starting school with more confidence because they have new backpacks and school supplies. The backpack drive continues to set a positive tone for a successful school year.”
Other recipient charities included: 4 Kids In Need Foundation, Andrus, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greenwich and Stamford, Broome Street Academy, Cambridge Family and Children Services, Carver Center of Portchester, Child Center of NY, Children’s Learning Center, Domus, DreamYard, Emmanuel Worship Center, Evangelical Temple, ExpandED Schools, Forestdale, Friends of the Children, GEMS, Go Project, Good Shepherd Services, High School of Art and Design, Hour Children, Hunts Point Alliance for Children, Inspirica, Inwood House, Interfaith Food Pantry, Iris House, JCCA, Jubilee Center of Hoboken, Manhattan Christian Academy, Marble Collegiate, New Alternatives for Children, Newark Church Backpack Drive, Partnership with Children, Pivot House, Public Prep, PT Barnum Community of Bridgeport, Sheltering Arms, Southport Congregation, South End Community of Stamford, Storefront Academy, Tabernacle of Prayer, TEAK Fellowship, Women in Need, Women’s Prison Association, and Young Women’s Leadership Network.
About High Water Women
High Water Women (HWW) is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of women and youth through programs in financial literacy, microfinance and other initiatives for low-income children supported by volunteers and donors in the financial services industry. In the past three years HWW has also become a leader in convening symposia for impact investors. www.highwaterwomen.org