Beatrice Negulescu/Roundup
The Walking Shield Backpack program will begin collecting all donations on Nov. 9 and 10 for their annual holiday gift drive
The program started in 1976 and was originally aimed at helping the poor and homeless in the Downtown Los Angeles missions, According to Dr. Leland S. Shapiro, Director of the Pre-Veterinary Science Program and Professor of Animal Sciences,
Shapiro said the program took on a whole new purpose when it was observed that most of the people walking into the missions were Native Americans who had come to L.A. with no education or training, thinking that the streets were “lined with gold,” and ended up on skid row.
To help prevent this from happening, the founders of the program began working with the Walking Shield American Indian Society to give American Indian children an incentive to stay in school and thus the program was born.
Over the more then thirty years it has existed, the program continues to put these incentives together in the form of Christmas presents.
Each child who stays in school until Christmas receives a backpack with a items of clothing, a toy, school supplies and toiletries.
The Walking Shield Backpack program, named after Chief Walking Shield, plans to collect, pack and deliver the donations to it’s headquarters in Orange County by Nov. 14.
Students, teachers, and faculty alike are encouraged to participate and donate to the program.
Donations will be accepted at the Animal Science building library on Monday between 9 and 10 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m.. They can also be brought in on Tuesday from 8:45 a.m. – 5 p.m..
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