After Schoolers Food Drive Success

Lavelle Carlson

Robson Ranch After Schoolers thanks all the generous and giving people who donated to the food drive. All of our members, friends, neighbors, and pickleball players, and so many others provided five times the food and money for distribution to low-income families at Borman Elementary this year. You have helped to make their baskets and stockings fuller this year. So often we give a bag of food and do not think about how it grows when it is multiplied by many. We were able to fill 54 bags of food for individual families, 50 stockings filled with toys and goodies and scarves. Due to the overwhelming generosity of Robson Ranch residents and After Schooler members, we also provided more than 100 bags and crates of food to fill the school’s food pantry for many weekends of shopping for the Borman families.

We thank all the After Schooler volunteers who were there to collect and deliver the food to a storage garage, then to the school. We would like to thank LeRoy Carlson for organizing and arranging all the food, as it was being delivered for storage in his garage until members came to pack it into bins and boxes to deliver all to the school. We cannot forget the Robson Ranch Material Girls who are always there to make stockings, scarves, and pillowcases. Last but not least, After Schoolers sincerely thanks UMB Bank for donating 54 bags to fill with food for the individual families.

We would like to share with you the thanks from the principal, Ms. Emily McClarty, at Borman Elementary. This came from Ms. McClarty before the 54 individual bags and stockings were delivered to the school.

“It was so wonderful celebrating the first round of generous donations from the After Schoolers this morning; thank you! Alison (counselor) was able to get a crew to organize everything into food groups, so we have it set up as a Grocery Store for families to come shop for what they need. This will be such a wonderful way to connect with our families, and allow them the choice of items that work well for their family. And I just keep having to remind myself that this is only the beginning of what you all are providing for our kids’ families this Christmas! Thanks to your amazing donation, we are able to help more families this year than ever before!”

Although the After Schoolers were unable to have two garage sale fundraisers, they came up with other ways to help young children and support teachers. We plan to have a garage sale again in the spring of 2021, as well as some fun outings when it is safe. Our group has grown and continues to grow with retired educators, as well as non-educators. We welcome new members in our goal of supporting teachers and education while having fun.