Learning is harder if you are hungry. 18% of Poudre School District students live at or below the poverty line, and nationwide more than 40% of teachers say they bring “extra” food on Mondays, to alleviate the malnourishment students face on weekends. This week, after a nourishing meal, Rotarians will learn about the McBackpack Program from Board Member Dr. Dale Lake, introduced by Susan Gutowsky.
Ten years ago Ann Randall (Assistant professor at CSU) and Gerry Lake (retired journal editor) recognized the problem faced by malnourished students, and started filling and delivering five bags of food to two PSD schools each Friday. The word spread quickly, other schools began requesting food bags, and teachers volunteered to pick them up.
Dr. Dale Lake received his doctorate in Social Psychology from Columbia University, and has served on the faculties of New York University, Boston University, The State University of New York at Albany, and the University of Michigan Institutes for Social Research. His books include: Organization Capability: Competing from the Inside Out, Managing a State’s Education, Perceiving and Behaving and Measuring Human Behavior. In 2009, he, Warner Burke and Jill Paine, wrote Organization Change: A Comprehensive Reader. Partially retired, Dr. Lake consults with the Larimer Division of Human services, is guest speaker in CSU Business School, Larimer County Interagency Operating Group board member, and McBackpack board member.
Today, 50 volunteers fill more than 400 food bags each week, and deliver them to 38 PSD schools. These bags provide more than 1200 students with weekend meals during the 35-week school year. In 2016-17, they will deliver over 12,000 food bags.
When the volunteers are asked why they get up at six each Thursday and do this for 35 weeks a school year, they will typically respond: “when I sit down to Saturday dinner and know that more than 1200 kids are also eating in part, because of my contribution, I receive all the reward I need.”