Stars to Collect School Supplies for The Caring Tree

The Stars will be accepting school supplies and cash donations to benefit The Caring Tree at the watch party for Saturday’s game against FC Tampa Bay. Donations will help send Minnesota children in need back to school with the tools they need to be successful. Join us at the Sweetwater Grille & Bar, 161 St. Anthony Ave., St. Paul.

Throughout the month of August the NSC Minnesota Stars are partnering with The Caring Tree, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote educational success for Minnesota’s K-12 students in need by ensuring that they have the appropriate school supplies. The organization has assisted nearly 192,000 students since its inception in 1993, supplying kids with the tools they need to kick off a successful school year. This is the second year the Stars and The Caring Tree have partnered to raise school supplies for children in-need.

The Caring Tree collects bulk school supplies and maximizes financial contributions to purchase school supplies. With a $20 donation, The Caring Tree can purchase 30 necessary school supplies that students receive, including everything from notebooks and pens to a ruler and backpack.

The NSC Minnesota Stars will be collecting both supplies and cash donations throughout the month of August. Donations will be collected at the Stars home games on August 10 and August 27. Throughout the month the Stars will be collecting donations at Bricks Pub in Blaine, MN. Donations will also be collected at Sweetwater Grille & Bar in St. Paul during Stars away games.

“We’re excited to build on what we started in 2010 with The Caring Tree,” Stars CEO Djorn Buchholz said. “With school starting soon, we want to do our part to make sure that children in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota have the necessary supplies to help make them successful in the classroom.”

Tickets for the Stars home games on August 10 and August 27 can be purchased through the Caring Tree’s website for $2 off. Enter the code CARINGTREE from the ticket link at www.caringtree.org to receive the special offer.

Basic School Supplies Needed:

Notebooks, folders, pencils, scissors, backpacks, erasers, pencil boxes, filler paper, crayons, glue sticks, colored pencils, highlighters, pens, sharpeners, rulers, markers, scientific calculators, etc.

About the NSC Minnesota Stars

2011 marks the second season for the NSC Minnesota Stars and the 22nd season of uninterrupted professional soccer in the Twin Cities. The North American Soccer League (NASL) owns the NSC Minnesota Stars, assuming control in 2011 from the non-profit National Sports Center (NSC). After a successful 2010 season in the United States Soccer Federation Division 2 Pro League (USSF D2), the NSC Minnesota Stars will compete in the eight-team North American Soccer League during its inaugural season in 2011. The team is coached by Manny Lagos, a St. Paul, Minn., native and former member of the U.S. Men’s National Team. The NSC Minnesota Stars play home games at the 8,500-seat NSC Stadium on the campus of the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn.

About The Caring Tree

The Caring Tree was initiated in 1993. It was founded by the Minnesota Shopping Center Association as a statewide outreach project that allows the community to help others when there is a significant strain on many family budgets. The year-round campaign collects financial contributions and new back-to-school supplies for K-12 low-income students throughout the state of Minnesota.

The number of participating social service agencies and children served through The Caring Tree continues to grow each year. To date, nearly 192,000 students have enjoyed a better start to their school year, thanks to The Caring Tree. The Caring Tree can send a child back to school fully equipped with a backpack containing 30 necessary school supplies for $20 per child. With this being said, The Caring Tree can maximize contribution dollars and nearly triple the amount of children served compared to supplies purchased at cost or full retail.  The Caring Tree program believes in assisting as many low-income children as possible by maximizing their donor financial contributions, which then allow them to leverage the number of children they can serve.