FLAA donates $200 to food pantry
FOUNTAIN LAKE — The Fountain Lake Alumni Association recently donated $200 to the Fountain Lake Food Pantry to help students in need.
Brenda Irwin Sellers, FLAA vice president, said that many organizations donate to the elementary backpack program, but sometimes junior high and high school students are left out.
“Our family and consumer science teacher indicated that
there was a need for some students going hungry at lunch,” she said. “We decided to provide her with supplies that she could distribute to their students on a daily basis.”
The association also donated personal items such as toothpaste and toothbrushes.
“The teachers know what the children need,” Sellers said.
The association wants the community to see that they are here to support the school in various ways.
“From keeping a positive image of the school, to keeping us together as a community that is proud of its school, to helping our seniors with scholarships and to addressing needs as they arise or whatever they might be,” Sellers said.
The most recent donation from the association included sports equipment that the elementary students could use at recess.
Todd Cragg, FLAA secretary, said that the association benefits from these donations because they get to contribute and, most importantly, fill a need.
“There are so many needs out there today, and some are small, some are large. We look at the opportunity to see if we can fill those needs and how we go about it,” he said.
“We’re always looking for that little niche to help out, and we do have our main programs, but at the same time, every year, we do different things,” Cragg said.
Cragg has volunteered for a four-week library project to get the elementary school’s library set up, which he spent 40 hours a week doing.
The association shows presentations of the school’s history periodically to students and staff members because many of the staff members didn’t go to Fountain Lake.
“Keep the history alive and pass it on from generation to generation,” Cragg said.
Linda Tilley Lynch, one of the association’s founding members, said that the association was originally created because of the senior class photos from the first graduating class being in various stages of disrepair, noting that they have been stored in a room not suitable for storage.
Fountain Lake alumnus started the process of resorting and reframing the pictures. Donations for the frames and repair were made by former students, according to the association’s history.
“Now (the pictures) are in the auditorium displayed every year,” she said.
“There are so many needs out there today, and some are small, some are large. We look at the opportunity to see if we can fill those needs and how we go about it.” — Todd Cragg, FLAA secretary