There’s a great story in Carlsbad that took place last week that needs to be shared. An anticipated fundraiser to raise school supplies for Carlsbad students didn’t happen. This meant around 1,000 local students could be starting the school year without essential school supplies. Carlsbad Municipal Schools contacted Chad Ingram and the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber quickly organized a task force and developed a partnership with the Faith, Hope & Love Foundation.
Ingram and other members of the community began to make phone calls to some of our local generous businesses. The Faith, Hope and Love foundation established a Pack the Backpack Foundation and would then use the funds to purchase the needed school supplies and package them for students. The goal was to raise around $25,000.
After a few hours of phone calls, $52,000 had been raised. All of these funds will go toward school supplies for local students. Fundraiser efforts are continuing and the school supplies are on their way.
We can’t say enough to thank this project’s extremely generous sponsors: Oxy, Flogistix, Nuclear Waste Partnership, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Crestwood, Intrepid, Jenx, Denton Wood, the Rotary Club of Carlsbad, and the Carlsbad Foundation. Additionally, many other members of the community helped with private donations or by putting out boxes for supplies to be donated. You probably recognize many of the names on the list of businesses who supported – that’s because many of these companies show up repeatedly to help.
Special thanks to Alana Carreon at Faith, Hope & Love. Her willingness to jump in and assist with this project was crucial. Thanks as well to Chad Ingram and Lavern Shan for all of their hard work. This was another great example of everyone in Carlsbad, including the businesses who work here, coming together on short notice to resolve a community need.
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Just a reminder: The Carlsbad Water Park has moved into its late summer schedule, meaning that the water park is now only open on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. These hours will run through the end of September. Our summer concert performance on Aug. 20 will be Grupo Maldad. Maldad performed for us on Independence Day and was a huge hit. They also helped us provide a backup sound system on short notice when we had water issues. We’re very thrilled to have this Southeast New Mexico band back in Carlsbad.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway