White Sox starting pitcher Jake Peavy took a break from baseball this morning to help some Chicago students do their back-to-school shopping.
Peavy met with 15 kids from the Union League Boys& Girls Club of Chicago, which is matched with the Staples near Union Station as part of the Staples for Students program. Each kid was given a backpack with back-to-school basics and a $100 Staples gift card, which Peavy matched to give everyone $200 for supplies.
“It’s an awesome thing for the community,” Peavy said. “Just being around children can brighten your day, watching how innocent and pure these kids are. And then some of the older ones, going into new adventures in their life and they don’t even really realize what’s ahead of them as they go into high school and get older.”
Peavy said walking through the Staples aisles with kids, helping them pick which supplies they liked best, was a great experience.
“Just to see their personalities and do something they’ve never been able to do, and that’s to freely walk through a store and be able to grab different things that catch their eye and fancy notebooks and backpacks. Just the smiles on their faces make it all worthwhile.”
With the White Sox in the middle of a series against the New York Yankees, Peavy said it’s nice to be able to spend some time outside of the baseball world.
“A lot of times what we do for a living, playing baseball, we get so caught up in our world and just thinking the world revolves around what we do… so when you come outside and do things outside of our daily lives it’s refreshing and puts a whole different perspective on things.”
Aside from Staples for Students, Peavy has his own non-profit organization, the Jake Peavy Foundation. To show their appreciation for his partnership, Staples presented Peavy with a $5,000 check this morning for his foundation.
Staples for Students is a national program that matches non-profit organizations with their local Staples store. Through Sept. 15, customers can drop off supplies, or donate money during check-out, at Staples stores with 100 percent of proceeds going towards the local partner.
To learn more, visit www.staplesforstudents.org.
