WSU Oct. 8 Football Game Day Activities Will be ‘Backpacks for Hope’ Culmination Events

PULLMAN, Wash. – Activities on Washington State University Oct. 8 football game day in Pullman will be culmination events for Backpacks for Hope, according to Tom Brigham, co-chair of the university’s Katrina Relief Task Force.

Approved by WSU President V. Lane Rawlins as a community outreach project, Backpacks for Hope is a university effort to collect backpacks filled with school supplies to aid some thousands of children displaced by hurricanes that hit the U.S. Gulf Coast.

In conjunction with the Oct. 8 Stanford-WSU football game, to be played starting at 2 p.m. in Martin Stadium, Brigham said there are several ways to support the effort on game day. They include dropping off backpacks with contents on game day at the

–WSU Visitor’s Center, located in the Cougar Depot in downtown Pullman,
–Lewis Alumni Centre on campus,
–Mooberry Track, next to Hollingbery Fieldhouse on campus or
–truck parked in CUB parking lot

As part of the WSU College of Education Book Fair, age appropriate books to go in backpacks will be sold on game day in the Cascade Room of the Compton Union Building, adjacent to the stadium. Books will be on sale at special prices from 11 a.m. until the end of the game’s halftime. College of Education faculty, staff and students will handle sales and accept donations.

To participate in Backpacks for Hope, identify the grade level of student you wish to help. Buy a grade-level appropriate backpack, write the grade on a piece of tape affixed to the outside of the backpack. Into the backpack put:

School supplies, including notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, markers, rulers, scissors, and glue.

• A children’s book, appropriate for the age of the child.
  
• A stuffed animal for the child.
  
• A journal or notebook for the child to write down their personal story of how the hurricane has affected their life.

For additional information, contact Brigham, executive assistant to the president for faculty affairs, at (509) 335-6676 or the WSU Community Service Learning Center, (509) 335-7708.