Donations accepted at branches across Rhode Island through August 10

14,000 children in Rhode Island will receive new backpacks filled with school supplies 

PROVIDENCE – There is still time to donate new school supplies to Citizens Bank’s Gear for Grades initiative that will send nearly 14,000 local children back to school with important items to help them learn. Now through August 10, pencils, pens, notebooks, folders and other school supplies can be donated at any Citizens Bank branch across Rhode Island. 

This year, more than 37,000 backpacks will be distributed to children across RBS Citizens Financial Group’s footprint where it operates as Citizens Bank in New England and the Mid-Atlantic and Charter One in the Midwest. Since 2003, Gear for Grades has provided more than 200,000 children with new backpacks and school supplies. In Rhode Island, the program has helped more than 46,000 children. 

“The Gear for Grades program has sent thousands of children in Rhode Island and across our footprint back to school with supplies to help them achieve academic success,” said Ned Handy, President, Citizens Bank, Rhode Island and Connecticut. “We thank everyone who has already donated to this program and remind those who would like to donate that there is still time to make a small contribution of a notebook, a pack of pencils or crayons that will have a lasting impact on children in our community.” 

The Gear for Grades program is in partnership with Back to School of Rhode Island, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide outstanding quality educational programs helping individuals and families reach their full intellectual potential. Backpacks will be distributed on Saturday, August 18 from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at eleven different locations throughout the state. For more information about the Back to School Celebrations, visit www.btscri.org. 

For more details about donating school supplies, please visit http://www.citizensbank.com/community/gear-for-grades.aspx. 

About Citizens Bank

Citizens Bank is a division of RBS Citizens, N.A., operating its seven-state branch network in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. It has 83 branches and 192 ATMs in Rhode Island. 

RBS Citizens, N.A., is a subsidiary of RBS Citizens Financial Group, Inc., a $129 billion commercial bank holding company. It is headquartered in Providence, R.I., and through its subsidiaries has more than 1,400 branches, approximately 3,700 ATMs and approximately 18,940 colleagues. Its two bank subsidiaries are RBS Citizens, N.A., and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. They operate a 12-state branch network under the Citizens Bank brand in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Charter One brand in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. RBSCFG has non-branch retail and commercial offices in more than 30 states. RBSCFG is owned by RBS (the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc). RBSCFG’s website is citizensbank.com.   

Photo Caption: Cumberland residents Mia Dupont, age 8 and Ella Dupont, age 10 join Woonsocket Branch Manager Debra Carreiro Cournoyer (center) in donating school supplies for Gear for Grades.

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