FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Montville High School Student Manages Focus America “Project Pencils”

MAY 19, 2003-CONVENT STATION, NJ: Focus America, a NJ Non-Profit Corporation, announced that Leanne Polachek, a senior at Montville Township High School, is heading up a new project called Project Pencils in order to achieve her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest and most prestigious award a girl can earn in Girl Scouting.

In order to achieve the Gold Award, the Girl Scout must put in 50 hours of community service on a unique project that is approved by a Girl Scout Gold Award committee. Girl Scouts who earn their Girl Scout Gold Award have greater access to college scholarships, paid internships, and community awards.

Polachek approached Focus America with an idea to help fellow students from underserved communities: "Project Pencils". This project involves collecting school supplies such as backpacks, pens and pencils, dictionaries, notebooks, erasers, and calculators. The goal of Project Pencils is to attain enough supplies to make 300 "packs" for distribution in August to underserved and poor communities in Northern New Jersey.

She will collect donations of supplies from individuals within her community and hopefully be able to have a company match these individual donations. In addition to organizing this massive collection, Polachek is arranging drop-off sites within her community and will solicit assistance from patrons outside of supply stores. Additional packages will be shipped to Focus America’s out-of-state adopted communities in Illinois.

Focus America provides high school and college students with business experience through the management of social service and charity projects that address the needs of poverty-stricken and destitute communities around the country. Their focus is on addressing basic needs (shelter, food, and clothing) then introducing educational programs to help the communities achieve self-sufficiency. Their ultimate goal is to help eliminate poverty in these underdeveloped communities.

For more information about Focus America or how to donate items, contact Shelly Zimmerman at szimmerman@focusamerica.org or visit their website at http://www.focusamerica.org.

CONTACT: Shelly Zimmerman, President and Founder
PO Box 267
Convent Station, NJ 07961
862-812-0648 (cell) or 973-993-8639 (home)
szimmerman@focusamerica.org