Larson Foundation Grants $20K to BBP
BBP has just received a $20,000 grant from the Larson Family Foundation.
“We are deeply grateful to the Larson Foundation for their tremendous support,” said Susan Rosen, representing the BBP Management Team. “In so many ways this foundation quietly yet profoundly labors to create a more positive environment for every child in Brookings. We are humbled by the generosity.”
Rosen noted that the Larson funds will allow BBP to nearly double the number of children served this school year, from its current total of 133 students to 246. “Nevertheless,” she went on, “the sobering fact is that even with this grant, and with all the other community donations to BBP so far, we’ll be reaching less than half of the 650 children we know would benefit from our services.”
That estimate is based on the number of children currently enrolled in the free and reduced-cost lunch program offered through the school district and Head Start—a number growing almost by the day, according to Mary Tauber, Food Services Director with the Brookings Public Schools.
“If each of those 650 students registered for BBP,” Rosen said, “it would take another $25,000 to feed all of them for the rest of the year. And we know from Mary Tauber and others that not every Brookings student who is at risk of hunger is actually enrolled in the free lunch program. How many other children might there be?”
In awarding the grant, the Larson Foundation indicated its hope that the larger community would join it in chipping into the BBP effort. While trying to serve all the students who might benefit this school year is a major task, BBP must plan, at the same time, for sustainability. “A child who is fortunate enough to receive BBP assistance this year will most likely need it again next year,” Rosen observed. “Hunger tends to hang on. The conditions causing our community’s children to be at risk of hunger must be addressed. BBP’s work will not end until these challenges are met.”
