A new school year can be an exciting time for students, but also an expensive time of year for parents who must afford all the necessary school materials for their children – and school supplies are often not cheap. Grand Fitness helped ease the stress on parents by partnering with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County in Florida and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Mid Central Coast in California for back-to-school drives. The franchise group collected school supplies in its clubs, including items such as new backpacks, lined notebooks, No. 2 pencils, pens, crayons, glue sticks, calculators, erasers and rulers.

The back-to-school drive in collaboration with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Mid Central Coast in California concluded Aug. 8. This Boys & Girls Club held a back-to-school celebration at the Railroad Clubhouse location in Santa Maria, so members could receive their school supplies and win some PF^® swag.

In Florida, the franchise group’s back-to-school drive with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County ran through Aug. 14 and was also capped with a back-to-school celebration for the members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County.

In New Jersey, the franchise group also partnered with Jersey Cares to do a school supply drive. Jersey Cares is a nonprofit organization that uses community engagement and volunteer service to support low- and moderate-income young adults by helping prepare them for college and their future careers. Jersey Cares did a large school supply drive from June to August, and Grand Fitness’s club locations collected donations during August. Grand Fitness’s clubs collected the school supplies and dropped them off at Jersey Cares’ office at the end of the drive. The school supplies items included backpacks, new subject notebooks, composition notebooks, folders, pencil cases, pencils, erasers, pens, highlighters, calculators, glue, rulers, markers, child-safe scissors and more.

The school supplies drive touched many students’ lives as the school supplies were distributed to public schools all over the state. Grand Fitness owns and operates 13 clubs in New Jersey. The group felt Jersey Cares was a great organization to partner with due to their shared mission and passion for helping the community. Additionally, Jersey Cares has been helping the local community since 1993, indicating that the organization has been helping the state for years and is committed to giving back.

“We’re excited to further our partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, expanding on our Judgement Free Generation^® initiative, in addition to sparking a new partner, Jersey Cares, with a similar mission,” said DonnaMarie Hendriksen, marketing strategist for Grand Fitness. “With a goal of helping communities to be happier and healthier, it’s our pleasure to open our doors to the community to donate school supplies to ensure students are prepared for their first day of school.”