Tom Case Leadership Fellows Organize Food Drive for Children
As part of their participation in the Tom Case Leadership Fellows program, students create and lead a community service project in our community that is meaningful to them. This year, one of the students groups has organized a food and fund drive to benefit youth who rely on Boys & Girls Clubs for nutritious meals. Boys & Girls Clubs - Alaska operates 25 Clubhouses across the state, including four in the Municipality of Anchorage. Last year, Clubs served nearly 364,000 meals and snacks to children. During the pandemic there has been greater need, but fewer funds.
Lauren Mason has seen this impact on children firsthand. She is the Director of Educational Programs for Boys & Girls Clubs – Alaska and is also a Tom Case Leadership Fellow. “A collaboration between these two programs made a lot of sense,” said Lauren. She and three other Fellows – Nicole Deren, Morris Pickel III, and Eric Lacher – developed the food drive. They solicited locations for public donation bins, worked up promotional materials, and got ready to launch the drive.
But an upswing in COVID cases meant they had to change their operations to ensure food drive activities could continue with proper precautions in place. “It’s become hard to get physical food donations,” said Lauren. “The drop-off locations are limited, so we’re promoting a fund drive as well.”
"Because I work in the Finance department of Boys & Girls Clubs - Alaska, I see the deficits every day,” said Eric. I am grateful that the leadership program has put me in a position to help support a cause I believe in."
The food drive runs through Monday, December 21, 2020. Donors may make a monetary gift or bring non-perishable food items to the door at any Anchorage or Eagle River Boys & Girls Club location.
The Tom Case Leadership Fellows Program prepares UAA College of Business and Public Policy students to be future leaders who meet the needs of Alaska organizations through leadership, professional development programs and mentoring. Community engagement projects like the food drive are a core component of the program.