NAPERVILLE, Ill., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today, more than 3,500 OfficeMax associates will be joined by community members and celebrities as they surprise 1,000 teachers across the country with $1,000 worth of essential classroom supplies as part of the third annual "A Day Made Better" event. Each year, OfficeMax volunteers surprise teachers at 1,000 elementary schools across the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, to celebrate their extraordinary efforts and call attention to the national problem of teacher-funded classrooms.

This morning at 10:00 a.m., OfficeMax associates and celebrities in select cities will arrive at the identified schools to meet with the principals and school administration to surprise the winning teacher with a large box of school supplies for his or her classroom that includes a printer, digital camera and essential classroom materials worth more than $1,000 per gift.

Celebrities taking part in the "A Day Made Better" nationwide event to show their support for teachers and give back to local communities include:

    --  Selena Gomez - singer and actress known from Disney's Wizards of Waverly
        Place, Another Cinderella Story, and her debut album, Kiss & Tell,
        released on September 29, 2009.
    --  James Denton - film and television actor known for his role on Desperate
        Housewives.
    --  Maksim Chmerkovskiy with Debi Mazar - Dancing with the Stars duo
        featuring Maksim, a dance champion, choreographer, and instructor, and
        Debi, a seasoned film and television actress known for her recent role
        in the HBO Original Series Entourage.
    --  Michael Ian Black - comedian, actor, writer, and director known for TV
        comedy series The State, Viva Variety, Stella, and currently Michael
        & Michael Have Issues.
    --  Krista Watterworth - HGTV host and top designer on hit show, Save my
        Bath, and featured on You Should Live Here, 25 Biggest Decorating
        Mistakes and The Big Reveal. Krista's designs are regularly seen on
        HGTV's Spice Up My Kitchen.
    --  Richard Roeper - Chicago Sun-Times columnist and well-known movie
        critic.
    --  National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Jon Scieszka,
        Caldecott Honoree David Shannon, and talented newcomers Mac Barnett and
        Adam Rex, on their Guys With Books tour.
    --  Young Adult New York Times Bestselling author Scott Westerfeld and Irish
        young-adult fantasy author Sarah Rees Brennan.

An OfficeMax survey conducted in June 2009 supports data first reported in a National Education Association survey in 2005: Teachers spend on average $1,000 of their own money each year to offset school budget shortfalls and ensure their students have the necessary classroom resources for learning.

"Teachers inspire and shape our country's greatest asset, our children, and it is astounding that they are left to cover the cost of doing a good job," said Bob Thacker, SVP of marketing and advertising for OfficeMax. "We hope today's surprise events will generate a grassroots movement in support of teachers and demonstrate how easy it is to make a difference in your own community."

To drive national support, OfficeMax is working with Adopt-A-Classroom, an innovative nonprofit organization that enables the public to adopt a teacher in an easy, accountable manner. Adopt-A-Classroom identified the needy schools for "A Day Made Better," and those principals were invited to nominate one teacher who exemplified passion, dedication and innovation in the classroom.

"Our country will need up to 2.4 million more teachers by 2010, yet we continue to lose half of new teachers within their first five years largely due to lack of support," said Jamie Rosenberg, founder and executive director of Adopt-A-Classroom, which has raised $10 million for teachers over the past decade. "Today's 'A Day Made Better' events serve as a wake-up call to the country that teachers need our support now."

OfficeMax first launched "A Day Made Better" in October 2007, and with the help of 3,000 associates each year, OfficeMax has been able to surprise more than 3,500 teachers across the country with a total of $3.5 million worth of classroom supplies. Emphasizing community action, the "A Day Made Better" event has helped increase donations to Adopt-A-Classroom, which has supported more than 30,000 teachers and one million students over the past ten years. For more information about "A Day Made Better," visit adaymadebetter.com. To adopt a teacher, visit adoptaclassroom.org.

About OfficeMax

OfficeMax Incorporated is a leader in both business-to-business office products solutions and retail office equipment. The OfficeMax mission is simple. We help our customers do their best work. The company provides office supplies and paper, in-store print and document services through OfficeMax ImPress(R), technology products and solutions, and office furniture to consumers and to large, medium and small businesses. OfficeMax customers are served by more than 30,000 associates through direct sales, catalogs, e-commerce and more than 1,000 stores. For more information, visit OfficeMax.com.

Media Contacts OfficeMax Investor Contact Bill Bonner Jennifer Rook Mike Steele 630 864 6066 630 864 6057 630 864 6826

SOURCE OfficeMax Incorporated