AprilAire Fills Backpacks with School Supplies to Ensure Local Kids Are Ready to Return to Classes

AprilAire’s top executives assembled school supplies in 200 backpacks last week to donate them to Madison, Wis.-area elementary, middle and high school students as they go back to school this fall. In addition to its focus on healthy residential indoor air, the company has a strong corporate commitment to make a difference in the communities where it does business. The backpack donation work is a prime example of the value that AprilAire, as a brand, places on giving back.

The genesis of the backpack donation project occurred earlier this year when senior leaders gathered to set brand values and brainstorm ways the company could positively impact the community at large. AprilAire donated the backpacks and brought in two other community partners: CamelBak to donate water bottles and Complete Office of Wisconsin, AprilAire’s office supply company, to provide school supplies at cost like notebooks, binders, paper, pencils, markers, crayons, glue sticks and more—even a scientific calculator for the older students.

“We were honored to partner with Complete Office, CamelBak and St. Vincent de Paul to help local students of all ages put their best foot forward with full backpacks when they enter classrooms this fall,” says Dale Philippi, president and CEO of Research Products Corporation, AprilAire’s parent company.

Philippi was one of about 30 members of the leadership team who worked to assemble the backpacks. Other executives included Jatin Khanpara (senior vice president of Engineering), Mike Rimrodt (vice president of Business Development), Chris Gratz (administrative services manager), Dave Lambrecht (senior vice president of Finance), Dave Reifsteck (vice president of Sales), Jeff Schmoeger (senior vice president of Manufacturing), Tom Maskel (vice president of Product Management), and Jerry McNerney (vice president of IAQ Engineering).

AprilAire will donate the 200 full backpacks—100 for elementary-aged students, 50 for middle schoolers, and 50 for high school students—through the St. Vincent de Paul of Madison (SVDP) Food Pantry for back to school. Over the years, AprilAire has supported SVDP in numerous ways including Care Café fundraising events, food pantry donations and initiatives, and executives volunteering with the non-profit.

Other community service projects that fall under AprilAire’s brand value of “Making a Difference” include the FairShare CSA Coalition’s Bike the Barns event next month and last December’s holiday home makeover in which the brand coordinated and donated an entire home makeover to a single mom including the company’s signature solution, the AprilAire Healthy Air System, which was particularly impactful since three of her four children’s allergy issues make healthy indoor air critical.

AprilAire offers homeowners indoor air quality peace of mind for the whole house with dehumidifiers, whole-house humidifiers, and a full line of professional-grade, residential Healthy Air solutions including air purifiers and a complete line of filters. The company’s signature solution, the AprilAire Healthy Air System, is a set-it-and-forget-it system for all-in-one fresh air ventilation, air purification, humidity control, zoning, control, and radon mitigation which are all essential for healthy indoor air quality.