2015-2016 YEAR IN REVIEW
Celebrating Our Successes
THANKS TO YOU, over 3,500 students at our adopted schools received a boost on the path to college—and a successful life.
FELLOW GREAT LAKES EMPLOYEES, We just completed our third year, and it was our best yet! Employee participation was up. Our drives broke records. Programs were expanded. And students at our nine adopted schools benefited from your generosity more than ever. In this report you’ll find a recap of all we did during the 2015-2016 school year. You’ll also go beyond the numbers to read amazing stories of innovation, commitment, and dedication displayed by Great Lakes employees and school staff. Working as partners, we’re doing great things to set students up for academic success—which is at the heart of the Great Lakes corporate mission. I can’t stress enough the importance of your involvement in Great Lakes Gives. Our adopted schools serve large numbers of low-income families where financial challenges often limit a child’s dreams and opportunities. By continuing
to focus our long-term attention on a single school near each Great Lakes center, we can provide the resources needed to change deep-rooted beliefs that college is “for someone else.” Together, we can replace doubt with confidence and inspire generations of students to achieve their true potential. As always, we welcome your ideas on improving Great Lakes Gives. Feel free to contact me or the Ambassadors at your center with suggestions on making participation more rewarding for employees and more beneficial for students at our adopted schools. Sincerely,
Stephanie Hayden Employee Giving Manager
School Supplies Drive 26,500 items collected: 23% increase over last year! The beginning of the school year can be especially challenging for many of the families at our adopted schools. After covering monthly bills, there may be little left to pay for school supplies. Sending students to school without needed supplies is stressful for parents— and kids too. Students without supplies can’t participate fully in learning activities and are often self-conscious about what they don’t have. Your donations mean students can feel good about school and themselves from Day One—putting them on track for a great year.
THE DIFFERENCE GREAT LAKES MADE IN MADISON
Gompers Elementary and Black Hawk Middle School Staff at Gompers Elementary and Black Hawk Middle School received 9,500 supplies from the Madison center and wanted to deliver them to students in need without drawing unwanted attention to those students. So, the staff came up with an innovative distribution method. They identified students in need and secretly stocked their desks before the first day of school. That way when classes started, every student had the required supplies. No delays. No embarrassment. One parent remarked, “It helps families so they can invest in other things like school clothes and shoes.” And a fifth grader expressed her non-English-speaking mother’s gratitude: “My mom feels thankful that we were able to get all this stuff because she works a lot and still can’t afford it.”
Madison employees deliver school supplies to fill students’ desks.
Pen Pal Program 300 employees took the time to do the “write� thing. In the spring of 2015, our pilot Pen Pal program paired over 130 Madison center employees with student Pen Pals at Gompers Elementary and Black Hawk Middle Schools. Their exchange of hand-written messages every other week was so popular with students, teachers and employees that expanding the program was a natural next step. This year, 300 employees at seven Great Lakes centers took part. By writing back and forth with students, we helped students improve their reading and writing abilities. Perhaps more importantly, though, we also helped improve their self-confidence and self-esteem— by simply taking an interest in them.
THE DIFFERENCE GREAT LAKES MADE IN PLANO
Rainwater Elementary We hear from teachers at all the schools about how excited the students get when they have a Pen Pal. We also hear how employees share that excitement. Ambassador Amy Tennison is one of the 23 Plano center employees who had a Pen Pal this year, and she can’t say enough about it. “The Pen Pal program is an amazing way for us to connect with the students. It allows us to see them as individuals and not just the statistics of our school,” she remarked. As she got to know her Pen Pal, Moses, he asked her a lot of questions about her current job and others she has held. “I feel it has made him more aware of opportunities that exist that he may not have known about,” she said. She went on to say how being Pen Pals helped fellow employees better appreciate our support for Rainwater Elementary, their adopted school. She said, “They now truly understand why we do the drives we do. They didn’t realize the need until actually communicating with their Pen Pal.”
Plano Ambassador Amy Tennison and her Pen Pal, Moses.
Unite for Our Communities $113,700 contributed by employees—a 6% increase over last year! Great Lakes Gives sponsors an annual Unite for Our Communities campaign as a convenient way for employees to support local causes that are important to them. Pledges and donations made to United Way and Community Shares support a wide range of organizations dedicated to making our communities even greater places to live and work. To even further benefit our adopted schools, the Great Lakes dollar-for-dollar corporate match doubles the value of employee contributions. This past year that meant $113,708 went directly to our adopted schools. Each school used the money for new programs or equipment to improve student learning—purchases that otherwise might not have been possible.
THE DIFFERENCE GREAT LAKES MADE IN ABERDEEN
O.M. Tiffany Elementary In Aberdeen the O.M. Tiffany Elementary School building had a long-standing obstacle to learning. The decades-old structure relies on heating and air conditioning units in each classroom that are, to say the least, noisy. According to Principal Jared Ahlberg, students in the back of classrooms can miss half of what teachers say because the circulation fans are so loud! And when students can’t hear, it’s hard for them to learn. Last year the school used our corporate match to help purchase Soundfield wireless speakers. Equipping each classroom with a speaker and every teacher with a clip-on microphone, students can now hear everything the teacher has to say. This year, our match dollars purchased additional microphones for students to use so they can be heard when presenting to classmates. Teachers at Tiffany now say they can’t live without their Soundfields. They’ve seen grades improve and report a noticeable increase in student participation.
Soundfield wireless speakers, with microphones, help students hear their teachers and peers in Aberdeen classrooms.
2015-2016
A YEAR IN SMILES
Winter Snack Drive 54,600 snacks collected to fuel student success! For many low-income students at our adopted schools, hunger is a constant reality. The meals and snacks they receive at school may be the only food they get in a day—so we want to make sure they fill up. Students who “run on empty” often lack focus and can be disruptive— taking a toll on their learning and the learning of fellow students. Thanks to our donations, schools were able to keep bellies full, students happy, and minds fully engaged in learning!
THE DIFFERENCE GREAT LAKES MADE IN EAU CLAIRE
Lakeshore Elementary Lakeshore Elementary school in Eau Claire had long relied on money from The Good Neighbor Fund, a local charity, to buy their snacks through a food bank. While this filled a need there wasn’t a lot of variety in the snacks they could offer students, and kids who received the same “free snacks” every day were often teased. To avoid the embarrassment, those students often skipped having a snack—and their learning suffered. This year, the 1,250 snacks donated by Eau Claire employees made a big difference for the students and staff. According to Deb Lewis, Partnership Coordinator at the school: “The variety was awesome, and our students really appreciated what they were given. Plus, it didn’t single anyone out as needing free snacks.” She also mentioned two additional benefits. First, she said, “It frees up some of The Good Neighbor Fund for other needs, like supplies and clothing that also help students have good days of learning.” Teachers, who in the past often used their own money to buy snacks for students, also benefited. Deb told us, “We received so many donations this year, no one had to do that.”
Great Lakes employees delivered snacks to fuel learning.
Summer Book Drive Over 7,600 books collected—2,000 more than last year! Low-income students who don’t have books to read over summer break often lose reading skills—something called “summer slide.” Summer after summer they fall further behind wealthier classmates, and by fifth grade these students may only be reading at a second grade level. It’s a learning gap few students ever overcome, making success in middle school and beyond difficult. The good news is there’s a simple solution: sending a small stack of books home with students every summer can help them maintain their reading level. When they come back to school in the fall they’re ready to pick up where they left off in the spring— with no loss of reading ability!
THE DIFFERENCE GREAT LAKES MADE IN EAGAN
Moreland Arts and Health Sciences Magnet School At Moreland Arts and Health Sciences Magnet School, adopted by our Eagan center, teachers and staff have made summer reading a priority for years. There’s a summer school reading program, and the school’s literacy specialists have traditionally sent a book home with all students each summer. Thanks to our book drive, the school is now able to send several books home with students. Moreland’s family support worker, Sarah Jorgenson, has developed a unique way to let the students choose their own books. Working with the literacy specialists, she sets up a “bookstore” in the school library. Books are sorted by reading level and each class is given time to “shop.” As Sarah told us, “Many of our students don’t have books at home. They get so excited to come in and make their own choices, getting books that fit their interests and reading ability.” Eagan employees donated over 1,300 books this year, enough to give each student three books!
Happy shopping day at Moreland!
Box Tops for Education A dime at a time, we gave our schools an extra $1,670. Thanks to our collection of 16,700 Box Tops for Education™, we’re able to help our adopted schools get a little extra cash to use for buying additional supplies, funding field trips and more! The best part is, it’s easy and many products we all use regularly are part of the Box Tops program. We don’t have to do anything more than clip the Box Top and bring it in. With a value of 10¢ each, the dollars really add up!
THE DIFFERENCE GREAT LAKES MADE IN STEVENS POINT
Jefferson Elementary Every center does their part collecting Box Tops for Education™, but Stevens Point has really risen to the “top” of the class. Ambassador Jennifer Glad filled us in on how the center does so well. She said, “The Box Tops Drive is a way for people here to give back and support our adopted school without having to do anything extra, so we’ve put a lot of emphasis on it.” Employees have launched their own Facebook campaigns to collect them, a nearby coffee shop saves milk caps for the center, and members of the local community even stop by the office to drop off Box Tops! One of the biggest collection events they have is built around college basketball’s March Madness tournament. Jennifer explained, “We do a bracketed competition. Teams compete against each other and the team that brings in the most advances to the next round. Our center is VERY competitive so that really is a lot of fun and creates some positive morale.” Saying they’re competitive is an understatement. The center collected 5,000 Box Tops during this year’s March Madness “championship,” a major portion of the 8,260 total they brought in for the year. Altogether, they raised $826 for Jefferson Elementary to use for celebrations recognizing student success and promoting good behavior.
Heated competition in Stevens Point!
GREAT LAKES GIVES TEAM This year we welcomed 19 new Ambassadors to the Great Lakes Gives team. Each Ambassador spends 5-8 hours a month on company time serving as a “Great Lakes Gives evangelizer” in their center. Ambassadors are key to helping Great Lakes Gives do even more—for our adopted schools, our communities and our corporate mission to help more students get to and through college. We welcome your ideas on making Great Lakes Gives even more effective! To contact us, email:
GreatLakesGives@glhec.org AMBASSADORS ABERDEEN Jennifer Hansen James Haugen
EAGAN Nick Anderson Carrie Hansen
BOSCOBEL Dana DeVary Nick Rauch
EAU CLAIRE Sara Connett Sarah Haffenbredl David Walberg
EMPLOYEE GIVING MANAGER Stephanie Hayden
COORDINATOR Kristi Looze
MADISON Alyssa Dunsirn JoAnn Stewart Stephanie Well Ryan Wendel PLANO Estevon Rincon Amy Tennison
ROCKY HILL Jasmin Beeney Kevin Sauer STEVENS POINT Jennifer Glad Ashley Mansavage
“Your support of Great Lakes Gives helps more at-risk students get the boost they need to go on to college—and successful lives. Thanks for being involved.” Richard D. George President & Chief Executive Officer
Š2016 Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates. All rights reserved. (06/16)