Celebrities Join 'A Day Made Better' Cause to End Teacher-Funded Classrooms by Making Surprise Visits to Winning Teachers
October 06 2009 - 9:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Selena Gomez, James Denton, Michael Ian Black, Maksim Chmerkovskiy
and Debi Mazar Among the List of Notables Showing Their Support for
Teachers NAPERVILLE, Ill., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today,
more than 3,500 OfficeMax associates will be joined by community
members and celebrities as they surprise 1,000 teachers across the
country with $1,000 worth of essential classroom supplies as part
of the third annual "A Day Made Better" event. Each year, OfficeMax
volunteers surprise teachers at 1,000 elementary schools across the
United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, Virgin Islands and Puerto
Rico, to celebrate their extraordinary efforts and call attention
to the national problem of teacher-funded classrooms. This morning
at 10:00 a.m., OfficeMax associates and celebrities in select
cities will arrive at the identified schools to meet with the
principals and school administration to surprise the winning
teacher with a large box of school supplies for his or her
classroom that includes a printer, digital camera and essential
classroom materials worth more than $1,000 per gift. Celebrities
taking part in the "A Day Made Better" nationwide event to show
their support for teachers and give back to local communities
include: -- Selena Gomez - singer and actress known from Disney's
Wizards of Waverly Place, Another Cinderella Story, and her debut
album, Kiss & Tell, released on September 29, 2009. -- James
Denton - film and television actor known for his role on Desperate
Housewives. -- Maksim Chmerkovskiy with Debi Mazar - Dancing with
the Stars duo featuring Maksim, a dance champion, choreographer,
and instructor, and Debi, a seasoned film and television actress
known for her recent role in the HBO Original Series Entourage. --
Michael Ian Black - comedian, actor, writer, and director known for
TV comedy series The State, Viva Variety, Stella, and currently
Michael & Michael Have Issues. -- Krista Watterworth - HGTV
host and top designer on hit show, Save my Bath, and featured on
You Should Live Here, 25 Biggest Decorating Mistakes and The Big
Reveal. Krista's designs are regularly seen on HGTV's Spice Up My
Kitchen. -- Richard Roeper - Chicago Sun-Times columnist and
well-known movie critic. -- National Ambassador for Young People's
Literature Jon Scieszka, Caldecott Honoree David Shannon, and
talented newcomers Mac Barnett and Adam Rex, on their Guys With
Books tour. -- Young Adult New York Times Bestselling author Scott
Westerfeld and Irish young-adult fantasy author Sarah Rees Brennan.
An OfficeMax survey conducted in June 2009 supports data first
reported in a National Education Association survey in 2005:
Teachers spend on average $1,000 of their own money each year to
offset school budget shortfalls and ensure their students have the
necessary classroom resources for learning. "Teachers inspire and
shape our country's greatest asset, our children, and it is
astounding that they are left to cover the cost of doing a good
job," said Bob Thacker, SVP of marketing and advertising for
OfficeMax. "We hope today's surprise events will generate a
grassroots movement in support of teachers and demonstrate how easy
it is to make a difference in your own community." To drive
national support, OfficeMax is working with Adopt-A-Classroom, an
innovative nonprofit organization that enables the public to adopt
a teacher in an easy, accountable manner. Adopt-A-Classroom
identified the needy schools for "A Day Made Better," and those
principals were invited to nominate one teacher who exemplified
passion, dedication and innovation in the classroom. "Our country
will need up to 2.4 million more teachers by 2010, yet we continue
to lose half of new teachers within their first five years largely
due to lack of support," said Jamie Rosenberg, founder and
executive director of Adopt-A-Classroom, which has raised $10
million for teachers over the past decade. "Today's 'A Day Made
Better' events serve as a wake-up call to the country that teachers
need our support now." OfficeMax first launched "A Day Made Better"
in October 2007, and with the help of 3,000 associates each year,
OfficeMax has been able to surprise more than 3,500 teachers across
the country with a total of $3.5 million worth of classroom
supplies. Emphasizing community action, the "A Day Made Better"
event has helped increase donations to Adopt-A-Classroom, which has
supported more than 30,000 teachers and one million students over
the past ten years. For more information about "A Day Made Better,"
visit adaymadebetter.com. To adopt a teacher, visit
adoptaclassroom.org. About OfficeMax OfficeMax Incorporated
(NYSE:OMX) is a leader in both business-to-business office products
solutions and retail office equipment. The OfficeMax mission is
simple. We help our customers do their best work. The company
provides office supplies and paper, in-store print and document
services through OfficeMax ImPress®, technology products and
solutions, and office furniture to consumers and to large, medium
and small businesses. OfficeMax customers are served by more than
30,000 associates through direct sales, catalogs, e-commerce and
more than 1,000 stores. For more information, visit OfficeMax.com.
Media Contacts OfficeMax Investor Contact Bill Bonner Jennifer Rook
Mike Steele 630 864 6066 630 864 6057 630 864 6826 DATASOURCE:
OfficeMax Incorporated CONTACT: Media, Bill Bonner,
+1-630-864-6066, or Jennifer Rook, +1-630-864-6057, or Investors,
Mike Steele, +1-630-864-6826, all of OfficeMax Web Site:
http://www.officemax.com/ http://www.adoptaclassroom.org/
http://www.adaymadebetter.com/
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