Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Office Receives 45 REACH-A-Child™ First Responder Bags, Thanks to $21,000 in Contributions from AT&T

EAU CLAIRE, Oct. 5, 2022 — The Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Office received 45 first responder bags today to help children deal with crisis situations as part of the REACH-A-Child™ program, thanks to $21,000 in contributions from AT&T and the AT&T Foundation.

The program provides local sheriffs, police, EMTs and fire departments with First Responder REACH BAGs that contain a variety of children’s books that are given to children at the scene of an accident, house fire or other emergency. The goal is to redirect the children’s attention from the crisis at hand, allowing them to experience an educational escape from their fears.

The Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Office also received 250 extra children’s books to help replenish REACH BAGs and to support upcoming community events hosted by the Sheriff’s Office.

“When children are facing a crisis situation like a car accident or domestic disturbance, our mission is to help first responders engage them in a positive way through the power of a book,” said Curtis Fuszard, Executive Director of REACH-A-Child. “Thanks to the generous financial support of AT&T, we are able to provide the Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Office with REACH BAGs that first responders can use to help comfort children in need.”

Each First Responder REACH BAG contains 20 new children’s books and several drawstring backpacks that are given to children, one book and bag at a time, at the scene of an accident, fire or other crisis.

Since 2014, AT&T and the AT&T Foundation have contributed $67,500 to support REACH-A-Child in Wisconsin.

“REACH-A-Child is a wonderful organization that is helping first responders comfort children who are often dealing with very stressful and traumatic situations,” said Paul Weirtz, president of AT&T Wisconsin. “We are proud to support this nonprofit’s mission to comfort children in crisis, and we are happy we can help provide over 45 REACH bags to the Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Office.”

REACH-A-Child is a Madison-based nonprofit that partners with first responders in many communities across the state. Its mission is to provide first responders with REACH BAGs filled with books and drawstring backpacks to help comfort children in crisis. To learn more, please visit: http://reachachild.org/.

The AT&T contribution is part of the company’s philanthropic giving efforts to support our local communities. We invest our company’s resources and knowledge to advance access to education and training, improve lives, and strengthen the communities in which we live and work.

About Philanthropy & Social Innovation at AT&T

We’re committed to advancing education, creating opportunities, strengthening communities and improving lives. As part of our company-wide $2 billion commitment from 2021-2023 to address the digital divide, we launched AT&T Connected Learning to invest in connectivity, technology, digital literacy and education solutions to help today’s learners succeed inside and outside of the classroom. Since 2008, we’ve committed more than $600 million to programs that help millions of students across all 50 states and around the world, particularly those in underserved communities.