Marietta Teen Awarded $10,000 Scholarship From Kohl's Department Stores for Extraordinary Volunteer Efforts

Kohl’s Department Stores (NYSE: KSS) announced today that Garland Jones from Marietta is one of 10 national Kohl’s Cares® Scholarship Program winners receiving a total of $10,000 in scholarships for higher education. In addition to recognizing Garland for outstanding efforts through volunteerism, Kohl’s will also donate $1,000 to the nonprofit organization of Garland’s Choice – Crowned for Victory, Inc. Through the Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program, Kohl's is encouraging promising youth to further their education at a time when college costs continue to rise and parents are relying heavily on federal and private student loans to fund higher education.*

Recognizing a need within his community to help alleviate childhood hunger, Garland Jones decided to create “Back-N-Pack (Bringing A Child Key Necessities),” a youth-led project to provide food for poor and distressed refugee families in his local community of Atlanta, Georgia. Since the project began in 2012, when Garland was 16, “Back-N-Pack” has collected more than 16,000 pounds of food and raised more than $4,500 for the cause. Garland is hands-on in all aspects of the project - from organizing and marketing regular food drives to preparing, assembling and delivering food bags to refugee children and families. He is also diligent about recruiting and retaining volunteers, especially youth, to help ensure the food collected is distributed weekly in over 130 student backpacks. Garland’s “Back-N-Pack” project now provides food to more than 2,000 refugee children in Pre-K through fifth grade.

In 2013, Kohl’s celebrates its 13th year of rewarding young volunteers. Since the program began in 2001, Kohl’s has recognized more than 19,000 kids, including the 2013 winners, with more than $3.9 million in scholarships and prizes. This year, Kohl’s recognized more than 2,300 young volunteers with more than $400,000 in scholarships and prizes. For more information or a complete list of Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program national-, regional-, and store-level winners, visit www.kohlskids.com.

The Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program is part of Kohl’s Cares, Kohl’s philanthropic program focused on improving the lives of children. For more information, visit www.kohls.com/cares.