1,000+ Kids Get Free Backpacks with School Supplies

WHO: 50 employees from 7 Dewey Auto and Stew Hansen Auto dealerships. (They’ll stop selling and repairing vehicles for an afternoon to serve the community.) Along with the 450 backpacks and school supplies for South Union Elementary, the dealerships also purchased and donated 1,000 backpacks to the Des Moines School District for refugee students who will be starting school this year.

WHAT: Employees at Dewey & Stew Hansen Auto are adopting South Union School and supplying students with everything they will need to start school this year. On August 22 at Back-to-School Night/Meet the Teacher Night, 50 Stew Hansen & Dewey Auto employees will be filling backpacks with students with everything they need.

WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 22, 1:00 – 4:30 pm

WHERE: South Union Elementary, 4201 S. Union St., Des Moines

BACKPACK SUPPLIES: Each student will get a backpack filled with pencils, crayons, Crayola markers, colored pocket folders, pair of headphones/earbuds, colored pencils, pencil box, safety scissors, glue sticks, hand sanitizer, boxes of Kleenex, highlighters, loose leaf paper, baggies and more!

WHY:
“Stew Hansen and Dewey Auto employees want to give back and make a difference to kids who are going back to school and trying to make it through tough times,” said Christie Houlahan, regional marketing manager, Ken Garff Automotive, parent company of Hansen and Dewey auto groups. “Showing love to them at the beginning of the school year lets them know we are here for them and that someone out there hasn’t forgotten that they are important and not invisible. Perhaps this will help lift the pressures parents may feel and show that we’re all in this together.

“If we can brighten their lives, our employees want to do that. Helping each other like this lets them know we are here for them.”

It’s all part of Stew Hansen and Dewey Auto’s “We’re Here for You” initiative to buy local and give back to local community members to help ease the burden during difficult times. The program was intended to be a 3-month project only at the start of the pandemic but has grown to help thousands of Iowans and many more in other states where Ken Garff auto dealerships operate.