Rack Gives Back kicked off fundraising efforts for the August 13^th Back to School Fair at Ed White Middle School by hosting a “Garage Sale” in our San Antonio offices. T-shirts and Grady’s BBQ lunch plates sold for $5 a piece and for every $5 Rackers spent, a child would walk away from the fair with a backpack stuffed with school supplies.  Our goal was to raise $7500 from the event to purchase 1,500 backpacks, but instead of hitting our target…we blew it out of the park!

Thanks to generosity of Rackers, we managed to raise almost $11,000 in just two days! AMAZING!

Thanks to Grady’s BBQ for providing the BBQ plates at cost and to the Rackspace Support team for underwriting those costs, as well as the teams from across the company who donated shirts for the big sale, every single dollar raised goes directly to our community! After the backpack purchase, the remaining funds from the yard sale and BBQ plate sale will go towards the annual Thanksgiving Food Drive this fall.

Because of the huge success, we are planning to make the yard sale an annual event in San Antonio, with proceeds benefiting of our fundraising efforts! So if anyone ever has leftover t-shirts from campaigns or events – send them our way!  We’re already collecting for next year!

As if exceeding our fundraising goal wasn’t enough, we had another big surprise this week!  Working with our local HEB on Walzem Rd, we were able combine in-store coupons to receive a box of granola bars, a box of cookies, a case of Powerade, Mac and Cheese, and a hand sanitizer…all for free with the purchase of a $5 backpack!  We ended up saving $15,630.00, which is more than DOUBLE what we actually spent!  With the sponsorship dollars Rackspace provided to CentroMed, each of the 1,500 backpacks will be stuffed with a variety school supplies…at the end of the day, it’s incredible how far each $5 went.

Now that we’ve concluded our fundraising efforts and purchased all our Back to School goodies – the best part is right around the corner!  On August 13^th, we’re hosting the Magnificent 7 Back to School Fair at Ed White Middle School. Rackspace is partnering with CentroMed, The City of San Antonio – District 2, and Northeast Independent School District to provide 1,500 students with free immunizations, dental screenings, vision screenings, haircuts, and other services to get them ready for a new school year.

The Silver Spurs Fox and HEB Buddy will make an appearance and take pictures with the kids; Radio Disney will perform thanks to Superior Health Plan and their donation; and the Food Bank will serve breakfast and lunch.  Every child will also walk away with the backpack kits Rackers provided!  It’s going to be a fantastic event that fanatically gives back to our community.

If you would like to volunteer at this event, please send an email to Annie Vu. Three hour shifts start at 7 AM and end at 4 PM. Friends and family are welcome to join us – but we ask that only children 11 and up volunteer alongside you.

Thank you again to all our donors, sponsors, and volunteers who made this fundraiser such a success!  It was a great companywide effort – way to go, Rackers!

- Rack Gives Back

Tweet