Warsaw School Board Hears Report on 'Starving Children'
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
The number of children who will be fed for one year thanks to the Feed My Starving Children Warsaw MobilePack is almost equal to the number of kids who volunteered at the Oct. 8-11 event, according to co-organizer David Wayne. Wayne and co-organizer Scott Sterk gave a report to the Warsaw School Board Monday night. Six weeks before the event, Sterk said they had to give FMSC a figure for the number of meals they would pack for starving children around the world, so they estimated 600,000. About 3-1/2 days before the event, the Warsaw MobilePack received an anonymous donation that put it closer to 1 million meals. The board was shown a video highlighting the event and final numbers. The video showed there were 4,950 volunteers, of which 2,500 were Warsaw Community Schools students; volunteers worked 15 shifts; 170,000 bags were used as were four semi containers. The meals were made using 100,775 pounds of rice; 33,516 pounds of soy; 2,921 pounds of veggies; and 6,641 pounds of vitamins. It took 4,644 boxes on 129 pallets for the meals. The 1,003,104 meals will feed 2,748 children for one year. Sterk said of the meals packed by the Warsaw community, 85,536 meals have already arrived in Honduras; 427,680 are in Uganda; and 489,672 in Haiti. He thanked the board for taking a chance on the event and said it was an “awesome opportunity for our children.” Wayne thanked a list of people and said it was one of the best weeks of his life. “It was community at its finest,” he said. “We would like to make this an annual event.” Board Secretary Randy Polston thanked Sterk and Wayne for all that they did. “There are angels among us and you are two of them,” Polston told them. The school board also heard about the Family Groups at Jefferson Elementary School. Principal Kyle Carter said, “At Jefferson, we believe we live the mission (statement) in many ways.” The Family Group initiative has been going on at Jefferson for many years. “It’s an opportunity for students to work with other students they otherwise wouldn’t get to,” he said. Sixth-graders do an “amazing” job of facilitating activities for the younger students during Family Group time, Carter said. It provides an opportunity for the sixth-graders to show their leadership skills. During Family Group, Carter said students engage in a variety of projects throughout the school year. Recently, the Family Groups decorated pumpkins based on storybook characters and donated the pumpkins to Combined Community Services. Carter said the message of the Family Group is spreading. One Jefferson teacher, Tracie Deardorff, moved to Hawaii and they are now doing Family Groups there. Other schools in the district also are starting Family Groups. Family groups stay together the entire time the students are at the school. They meet each month and projects change annually. During the presentation to the board, several students said what they like about the Family Groups. They also wore their group shirts, which were different for each grade level. “This is one of the many things we do to make a difference,” Carter said. Later in the meeting, the board accepted donations for supplies and T-shirts for the groups, including: The Dr. Dane and Mary Louis Miller Foundation, $1,000; Hall & Marose Insurance, $1,000; and Steve Yeager, $500. Another presentation highlighted Edgewood Middle School teacher Tim Devlin’s bicycle ride from New Mexico to Canada over the summer. He had applied for and received a Lily Grant for $10,000 to make the trip. He rode 2,200 miles; raised $30,000 for a mission in the Dominican Republic; and finished after 32 days. Devlin said it was a life-changing experience. In other business, the board: • Approved the Title II grant for 2015-16 for $166,940. • Approved the High Ability Grant for 2014-15 for $52,839. • Approved the Non-English Speaking Program grant for $68,907.30. The purpose of the NESP is to provide English language development instruction to K-12 limited English proficient students in order to increase their English language proficiency and academic achievement. Appropriations are for students who have a primary language other than English and have limited English proficiency. • Heard enrollment is at 7,206 students. • Heard the next work session is at 4 p.m. Nov. 11, with the next regular meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 17.
