Boomerang Backpacks Get Donation From K21
AKRON — Tippecanoe Valley Schools Boomerang Backpacks program received a donation today from Rosy Jansma and the K21 Health Foundation.
Jansma serves on the board of directors of the foundation and for her involvement and commitment to the community K21 made a donation of $1,000 in Jansma’s honor. She chose to donate that money to the Boomerang Backpacks program.
Boomerang Backpacks is a program that brings food to families that have students ranging from preschool to fifth grade. Local EMS brings the food to the high school and the Life Skills class packs it to send out to the families each week.
“We are very proud of our program, Boomerang Backpacks serves probably a 160 families per week. We’ve got a great partnership with the life skills program at the high school,” said Dr. Michael Bendicsen, principal of TVSC.
The backpacks are sent home with enough food to last the entire weekend. Boomerang Backpacks is helping eliminate hunger and helps students be able to focus on their schoolwork during the week.
“We get monetary donations from the three other schools as well, including our own school. The k21 funding is a big help,” he continued.
Bendicsen said the school has also started sending books home with the food. “We’ve also added a literacy component to this where we’re starting to send books with the food.”
Bendicsen said, “It’s important that we keep costs low but we still want to expand to people who need it.”
TVSC is accepting monetary donations and book donations. Call (574) 353-7031 to find out where you can take your donations.