Just when financially-strapped parents increasingly rely on free after school care for their children,  many programs have  become a casualty of school budget cuts. A venerable  department store, new to Manhattan, has stepped into the breach to help provide funding for families in need of after school programs.

If you shop at the new JCPenney store at the Manhattan Mall in Herald Square between now and Aug. 16,  you'll be invited to "round up" the total cost of your purchase to the next dollar, with the proceeds going to support local after school programs.   All donations collected at the store will go to the Children's Aid Society of New York, which will also receive a $5,000 grant from the JCPenney Afterschool Fund to help the charity provide children in need with access to its after school programs.<!--more-->

In addition, to commemorate the store's opening, the JC Penney Afterschool Fund made a $100,000 donation to establish the After-school Arts Partnership (ASAP) to give children in after school programs greater access to the city's cultural offerings.  The donation was received by the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City to support the Out-of-School Time initiative.  An additional $50,000 donation was made to The After-School Corporation (TASC), the non-profit organization that advocates for comprehensive after school programs in New York City and across the country.

Since its inception, the JCPenney Afterschool Fund, along with JCPenney has contributed more than $70 million to after school programs. Do you know of other local merchants who have similar back-to-school offers which could benefit  schools and students?

Share the information here.