Fort Bliss, TX –
On July 31 Soldiers from the Fort Bliss Noncommissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) donated backpacks to the “Bags 2 School” charity drive hosted by “B Strong” the Braden Aboud Memorial Foundation.
The cadre of the Fort Bliss NCOA donated 10 children’s backpacks to the “Bags 2 School” drive which provides backpacks to students in need free of charge. The drive is augmented by other charities that donate school supplies.
One of the Soldiers involved in the collection and drop off was Staff Sgt. Alicia Espinoza a small group leader from the NCOA and the organization's volunteer coordinator.
“We are trying to get into a fit mind set,” said Espinoza about donating. “We saw the foundation does a lot of fitness related drives and became interested in helping, and we saw they were currently collecting for a backpack drive and wanted to be involved.” The cadre of the NCOA brought in backpacks to aid the drive. Espinoza along with fellow Soldier Staff Sgt. Samantha Messerschmidt dropped off the assortment of backpacks at the charity’s donation center in El Paso.
The manager of “B Strong” donation center Pamela Vigo Sanchez was glad to have more people donating to one of their drives.
“We host this back-to-school event so kids can start their first day of school ready to go and have a successful start to their year.” The drive has donated over 800 backpacks to school children since its inception in 2014. “We appreciate all donations and it is great to see Soldiers from Fort Bliss getting involved with the community while they are here,” said Vigo Sanchez. “It is really nice to have them working with us.”
“B Strong” is an El Paso area charity organization that was founded as part of the Braden Aboud Memorial Foundation in 2007 in honor of a fourteen-year-old Braden Allen who passed away in an accident in 2007. The foundation hosts several charity drives throughout the year, most aimed at helping school aged children. The foundation also sponsors a scholarship for college bound students.