Impact on Education volunteers help with equipping low-income students with school supplies. (Photo courtesy: Impact on Education).
Milk Caps for Mooola program to help provide students with iPads, field trips, items for field days and more. (Photo courtesy: Longmont Dairy).
Thanks to a late and lengthy spring it may feel like summer just got here, but the school year is once again right around the corner.
A few organizations are already in full swing getting ready for the year in the hopes of helping those a little less fortunate get a quality education. Among others these include Impact on Education, a nonprofit foundation supporting Boulder Valley public schools; A Precious Child in Broomfield, supporting children across the Denver Metro area; and the Longmont Dairy’s Milk Caps for Mooola program, supporting more than 400 schools within the company’s delivery area.
Impact on Education
Impact on Education started in 1983 as the Foundation for Boulder Valley Public Schools and has grown into an education-supporting juggernaut. The organization equips 5,000 low-income students with school supplies, raises funds for 160 kindergarteners to participate in a full-day, four-week-long summer program and has invested $1.2 million to create Wellness Centers at six Boulder Valley high schools.
Impact on Education has also provided more than $200,000 in Academic Opportunity Fund grants per year, allowing educators to create engaging lesson plans and learning experiences for their students and provide 75 high school students the training and resources they need to prepare them for success beyond high school.
The group is always looking for volunteers and, of course, donations. For more information on how to get involved or support the group, go to impactoneducation.org/volunteer.
A Precious Child
A Precious Child, meanwhile, got its start in 2008. Its humble beginnings started out of the garage of CEO and Founder Carina Martin. Back then, the group helped meet the needs of around 50 children.
In 2022 A Precious Child helped more than 57,000 children and more than 10,000 adult caregivers. The group works not only out of its impressive headquarters in Broomfield but also from 50 Satellite Resource Centers across the eight Denver Metro counties it serves – Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Weld.
The organization offers a full slate of services.
“Our facility provides a safe and dignified space where parents and caregivers receive resource navigation and case-management services and can shop for food, clothing, diapers, home goods and other basic essentials for members of their families free of charge,” said Chief Communications Officer Courtney Wickberg in an email.
Wickberg went on to say A Precious Child also “provides cradle-to-career support through programming that provides basic essentials such as food, clothes, toiletries and school supplies in addition to educational opportunities, access to extracurricular activities, mentorship and workforce development.”
A Precious Child prides itself on its collaborative nature, working with numerous partners and volunteers. For more information on how to get involved, visit APreciousChild.org.
Milk Caps for Mooola, by the Longmont Dairy
Back in November of 2012, leaders at Longmont Dairy were looking for a way to give back. They started the Milk Caps for Mooola program to help provide students with iPads, field trips, items for field days … basically, any special items or projects students otherwise may not have been able to afford.
“When we started, we had no idea how wildly successful the program would become,” said Longmont Dairy Co-Owner Katie Copeland in an email. “We now have over 400 participating schools within our delivery areas. As of last month, we have collected the 13 millionth cap, meaning over $650,000 has been donated to local schools.”
Copeland gave a lot of credit to the dairy’s community service coordinator, Gary Schlagel, who has been the driving force behind the program. Copeland added that schools have come up with some creative ideas when it comes to collecting caps, and many have put notices in school newsletters recruiting parents and neighbors to save their caps.
For more information on how you can participate, go to longmontdairy.com/mooola.html.
By Ross Maak for Raised in the Rockies
