August 11 in the Durrell Center. Cool program, a community outreach effort organized by university employees, will provide hundreds of area school-children with backpacks and supplies this fall. The School Is Cool program, in its eighth year, was designed to give less-fortunate children the supplies they need to start the school year. The program is funded by donations from Colorado State employees and community members with support from US WEST DEX and Norlarco Credit Union. Through the program, university employees are invited to buy and stuff backpacks or to donate cash used to purchase packs and supplies.
Employees then donate time to stuff and deliver the backpacks to area schools.
This program builds students' self esteem and helps ease the expenses families face each fall. The number of disadvantaged children in Fort Collins continues to grow. More than a quarter of students enrolled in Poudre School District participate in the free and reduced-lunch program. The number of backpacks distributed to each school is based on the school's percentage of students enrolled in this special lunch program. Cool program receives hundreds of thank-you letters from parents, children and school administrators.