Sleep Country USA Calls On Community To Donate School Supplies

Furniture World Magazine

This year, Sleep Country USA, the Northwest’s largest seller of premium mattresses, will again give Washington and Oregon’s more than 23,000 foster children the tools they need to succeed in school. Working closely with its foster organization partners, Sleep Country USA has created a checklist for shoppers to help obtain the top age-appropriate items needed this year. These include: - All Ages: Backpacks, Pencils and Pens, and Notebook Paper. - Elementary Students: Colored Pencils and Markers, Scissors, and Rulers. - Junior High and High School Students: 3-Ring Binders, Composition Books/Notebooks, and Calculators. “Providing these kids with the supplies they need to keep up in the classroom is essential for enabling them to be focused on coursework and get good grades,” said Terry Horsley, Vice President of Brand Strategy, Sleep Country USA, “Letting them know that they are cared about by their community is essential for life-long success. Sleep Country USA is dedicated to sending this message loud and clear, and is setting a goal of increasing the number of school supply items to more than 20,000, which we collected last year, exceeding the first year by twenty-percent.” Last year’s drive also garnered support from area businesses, which Sleep Country USA hopes to repeat again during this drive. Pam Westgaard at VTM, Inc., an 80-person global marketing consulting firm headquartered in Beaverton, led the charge last year holding a casual dress day for VTM employees that donated money to support the purchase of school supplies for the drive. “Everyone wants to be able to do their part to give back to the community, and often times the barrier is simply direction like which charity to give to and how to rally people around giving,” said Ms. Westgaard. “Sleep Country USA’s Foster Kids drives provide this framework and make it easy to say, ‘let’s just support this drive, collect the donations and simply drop them at the store closest to the office.’ It’s easy, fun and lets us do our part to support a great cause.” Donations of new school supplies are being accepted from July 23rd through September 16th, 2007 at any of Sleep Country USA’s more than 60 stores throughout the region. According to Sleep Country’s foster organization partners, other important items needed to help these kids be prepared for a new school year include index cards, dictionaries, erasers, water color paints, glue sticks, crayons, plastic school boxes, compass kits, graph paper, pencil sharpeners, and mechanical pencils. About Sleep Country USA: Sleep Country USA is the No. 1 mattress seller in the Northwestern United States, with more than 60 retail stores throughout Washington and Oregon. The company was founded in 1991 and features top-quality brand-name mattresses and premium adjustable beds, futons, and wood and metal accent beds. An industry visionary, Sleep Country USA strives to help every customer “choose well to live well.” The company is active in its communities, hosting ongoing events that benefit the area’s more than 23,000 foster children. For more information about Sleep Country USA or Sleep Country Foster Kids, please visit www.sleepcountry.com.