This year, the Redwood Falls Community Youth Foundation (Subsidiary of Redwood Falls Communities Foundation) is kicking off a year-end campaign to make a positive difference in the lives of youth and families in our communities. Beginning December 22nd, we are accepting donations that will be used for the following purpose:
Our Board of Directors has determined it will try to collect donations to pay off the student lunch account balance for all of “our” students in the local school district who have a past due balance. Approximately 200 students have a lunch account balance ranging from 70 cents to $150, totaling approximately $5,000. This isn’t a problem unique to our local school district. Almost every school district in Minnesota offers a school breakfast and lunch program and some of the accounts become past due. We all know there are families who could use some financial help, especially at this time of the year. Because we care about “our” kids we have determined this will be our focus. Consequently, we want to zero out their lunch account balances so every one of “our” kids start second semester with a zero balance owed.
We need to stress that we are launching this not knowing if it is something that we will sustain each year, but we know there are families in need of a helping hand right now and this is one way to help them right now. For a struggling family, clearing up even one small debt lets them know that their community cares.
We are grateful for a kick-off donation from Ruby’s Pantry, Redwood Falls to launch this campaign. Please support your neighbors, “our” kids, by donating money that will help a family get caught up on an unpaid lunch balance. This simple gift provides financial relief to these families and our Board of Directors thinks the community response will be significant. Yes, these are “our” children.
Last week at the Grow Our Own Summit event, hosted by the Southwest Initiative Foundation, people learned that 1 in 6 families in SW Minnesota live in poverty. The keynote speaker at the event, Robert Putnam is the author of Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. He pointed out that people saying “our kids” used to mean all kids in the community, not just their own children, and how we must get back to that in our society. For this initiative we are using the phrase “Our Kids” claiming all of the children in our community as our children.
Your tax deductible donation to the Redwood Falls Community Youth Foundation can be handled through our online system at: https://www.razoo.com/us/story/Redwood-Falls-Community-Youth-Foundation. Or you can drop off your check (payable to the Redwood Falls Community Youth Foundation) at the Redwood Area Community Center office. Over the past two decades this non-profit organization has raised money from our supportive community to offer scholarships to help families enroll their kids in school and city recreation programs. This is one more way you can support “Our Kids”.
Redwood Area Community Center
901 Cook Street
Redwood Falls, MN 56283