BBP News
The Brookings Education Association conducted a fundraiser this spring to benefit BBP. A check for $776 was recently presented to BBP Speaker's Bureau Coordinator and Acting Co-Coordinator Susan Rosen (center) by Chad Hauge (left) and Gary Mork. Thank you, BEA!
Volunteers are always lending BBP a helping hand. Sometimes the help they offer is especially creative, and totally unexpected.
Such is the case with SDSU graphic design students Cassie Sigman (left) and Arion Poitra (right), pictured above with BBP Co-Coordinator Susan Rosen.
Cassie and Arion contacted BBP early this semester to ask if they could develop some public relations materials for the organization. Their project would count toward the completion of the course requirements for their Visual Communications I class, taught by Randy Clark.
Since then, the team has given its time and considerable talents to the design of a brochure, a poster, a table tent and a unique "cartoon advertizement" for BBP.
"In order to carry out our mission, we must communicate effectively with the public," says Phyllis Cole-Dai, BBP Co-Coordinator. "That might sound obvious, but it's not so easily done. We deeply appreciate all of Cassie and Arion's hard work. They weren't just fulfilling a university course requirement. They were helping to sustain the children of Brookings."
As of the end of March, 725 students in the Brookings Public Schools were receiving federally-funded free or reduced-cost cafeteria meals.
That number already exceeds last year's total by 127 children.
According to Mary Tauber, the school district's Food Services Director, 541 students are now receiving free lunches, and another 184 receive reduced-cost meals.
BBP relies largely on the district's free/reduced lunch statistics when estimating how many children might need its assistance. BBP now provides weekly foodbags to 210 students in the public schools (and an additional 39 students in Brookings Head Start). While perhaps impressive, that number represents less than a third of the children currently enrolled in the free/reduced lunch program.
"We have to continue reaching out to the families in our schools, letting them know that BBP is here, that BBP can be trusted, and that there's no shame in being helped," says BBP Co-Coordinator Susan Rosen. "Right now, BBP is doing a lot, but we're not keeping pace with the need in our community."
The Brookings Backpack Project has been awarded a $16,500 grant by the Brookings Area United Way. BBP is one of more than 40 nonprofit organizations throughout Brookings County chosen to receive funding after an extremely successful United Way campaign, which exceeded its goal of raising $525,000 for 2009-10.
"The BBP Team is extraordinarily grateful for United Way's generous support," said Susan Rosen, a co-coordinator of BBP. "With this funding we will be able to serve a greater number of children next year. We will also be able to gradually increase the nutritional value of the food we distribute. The healthier the food, the greater our expense, but the children are worth it."
BBP currently serves 233 children and youth in Brookings.
(The following information originally appeared in an article by Melanie Brandert, The Daily Republic, Mitchell, SD, on 2/6/2010.)
More South Dakotans are taking advantage of the federal food stamp program, with an increase of roughly 6,700 people in the last fiscal year.
In fiscal year 2009, 69,001 state residents received food stamps, up 6,727 from the previous fiscal year, according to the University of South Dakota's 2009 South Dakota Kids Count Factbook.
The annual rate of increase is the largest experienced since the South Dakota Kids Count report began publishing in 1991, Director Carole Cochran said. Both she and the state Department of Social Services attribute the increase to the economy.
"In looking at what was happening in other states, South Dakota was affected later by the recession," DSS spokeswoman Emily Currey said, citing job losses and stresses such as divorce and family breakups. "It probably will take us a little longer to get out of it."
William Swart, Augustana College associate sociology professor, said, "What we're seeing is a slide into poverty as the result of declining jobs, declining real wages and already high health care costs."
An estimated 64% of persons eligible for food stamps in South Dakota actually participate in the program. "Though people are eligible, they may not want to take advantage of the program or handouts," Cochran said.
