Mountain Pine alumni donate $10,000 to school
MOUNTAIN PINE — Two Mountain Pine High School alumni who are now business owners presented a donation of $10,000 this week to Mountain Pine Elementary School to benefit students in need and as an effort to spark increased giving by other graduates.
Ryan Guthrie and Eric Oliver, owners of Windows USA and Window Mart Manufacturing, officially presented the donation to Mountain Pine Elementary School for its Counseling Fund, which provides clothes, shoes, backpacks and other supplies for students. Counselor Brittany George said the donation could also benefit the school’s backpack program, which provides students with weekend meals.
“My mouth dropped open. I was shocked it was that much money,” George said. “I felt very blessed they were willing to give back to our community and to help out our kids.
“They came from here, and they understand. For alumni to come back and give back is great. I graduated from here, so I feel the same way.
That’s why I’m here.”
Elementary school nurse Rhonda Karn started the Counseling Fund several years ago. Members of the community regularly make contributions to the fund, but nothing comparable to Guthrie and Oliver’s donation.
“We wanted to get involved with the kids that had some needs,” Oliver said.
Guthrie graduated from Mountain Pine in 1996 and Oliver is a member of the class of 1997. Window Mart and Windows USA have each sponsored multiple children with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. They said they began discussions several months ago about how to get involved and give back to the school.
More than 80 percent of students in the Mountain Pine School District qualified for free or reduced price meals in the 2016-17 school year. The district now offers free afternoon meals through the national Child
and Adult Care Food Program, which Superintendent B.J. Applegate planned to pursue when he began at Mountain Pine last summer. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Human Services at no expense to the district.
Oliver said he contacted George to learn about the school’s needs. George explained the number of children at the school in further need of assistance.
“When she explained that, it was kind of an eye opener for us,” Oliver said. “We did not know there were that many kids in need here. Obviously, we knew with the factory going down in 2006 there were more kids in need than before, but we had no idea how many idea there were.”
Almost 65 percent of the district’s 665 students in the 2004-05 school year qualified for free or reduced price meals. Enrollment decreased for the following four school years. Weyerhaeuser shuttered its Mountain Pine veneer and plywood facility in 2006.
The district’s enrollment remained relatively steady from 2007 to 2014 with a total decrease of 21 students from
610 to 589 before a 9 percent decrease the following year to
536 students. The district surpassed 80 percent of students qualifying for free or reduced price meals for the first time in 2015.
Oliver said they were encouraged by contributions made to the district by Bobby Bones, a 1998 graduate of Mountain Pine. An estimated
5 million listeners tune into “The Bobby Bones Show,” the nation’s largest morning country radio program in almost
100 markets across the country. “We want to encourage other alumni that are able to give back to the school as well,” Oliver said.
Those interested in contributing to the Counseling Fund can call George at the school at
501-767-1540 or email brittany. george@mpsdrd.com.