Charleston Co. students get backpack give-a-away

State Rep. Vida Miller announced Thursday that The Office Depot Foundation has chosen to distribute backpacks and school supplies to children in her House district, which includes portions of Charleston and Georgetown counties.

The giveaway is part of the foundation's eighth annual National Backpack Program in partnership with the National Foundation for Women Legislators.

"This is an extremely beneficial program," said Miller, D-Pawleys Island. "I am honored to have the opportunity to present these backpacks to these deserving students. This donation will allow the children to start the new school year with important resources they need to be successful in the classroom.

"As S.C.'s Education Team Leader for the National Foundation for Women Legislators, I commend the Office Depot Foundation on its efforts to make children's lives easier when it comes to having basic school supplies, which many of us take for granted."

Office Depot and its foundation will have given away nearly 1.8 million backpacks since the program began in 2001, including 300,000 this year to recipients in the U.S. and Canada.

The backpacks, designed for students in kindergarten to fifth grade, contain a pencil pouch with a ruler, crayons, a glue stick, a pen, a pencil, a pencil sharpener and an eraser.