Much-Needed Snacks Were Donated to Adopted Schools After Week-Long Giving Drive
Madison, Wis.—Employees of Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates are dedicated to supplying their adopted schools with the items students need most. During a week-long giving drive in January, employees collected 30,240 healthy snacks to sustain student learning and success at Gompers Elementary and Black Hawk Middle schools.
“Morning and afternoon snacks nourish the brain and meet the basic needs of our students,” said Sarah Chaja, Principal of Gompers Elementary School. “We are overjoyed at the results of this exemplary partnership.”
Kristi Looze is coordinator of the employee giving program Great Lakes Gives. She said, “When we ask Great Lakes employees to give, they really give. This supplies drive is another example of how we can make a big impact by focusing our efforts on the deserving students at our neighborhood schools.”
Great Lakes adopted Black Hawk in fall 2013 and Gompers in summer 2014 through the Foundation for Madison’s Public Schools Adopt-A-School program. To date, employees have collected 9,500 school supplies, 1,700 books for a summer reading program, and last winter, more than 45,000 snacks were distributed between Black Hawk, Gompers and Sherman Middle schools.
The largest single contribution was made by Great Lakes just before Thanksgiving. Employee donations to the annual United Way campaign were matched with corporate dollars to provide a $68,000 gift for new playground equipment on the Gompers and Black Hawk campus.
“Students have benefitted tremendously from our partnership with Great Lakes,” said Sean Storch, Black Hawk Principal. “The remarkable donation to install a new playground behind our schools will serve our kids, families and community for decades to come. We are grateful and appreciative of the support from our Great Lakes partners, and look forward to many more opportunities to enhance student learning, well-being and community pride.”
Great Lakes is a nonprofit group that provides customer service to help borrowers nationwide repay their student loans. Earnings support a corporate philanthropy program that makes grants to colleges and community-based organizations to help students get into and through college. Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, Great Lakes has additional operating centers in Rocky Hill, Connecticut; Eagan, Minnesota; Aberdeen, South Dakota; Plano, Texas; and Stevens Point, Boscobel, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Building on the company mission to change lives for the better through education, each location has adopted a local school that serves a high percentage of students from low-income households. Company-wide, employees collected nearly 40,000 supplies to help all students at their adopted schools finish the school year successfully.
