MAPE

Aug. 16, 2007

MAPE Local 1001 helps supply students in need with backpacks filled with school supplies ...

MAPE Local 1001 joined in partnership with the Roseville Area School District to supply local students in need with backpacks and the necessary supplies to start the first day of school.

When MAPE Local 1001 members learned that the Roseville Area School’s goal to provide 100 filled backpacks for students from grant funds had run short, they contacted Chrissy Rehnberg, executive assistant for teaching and learning, to see how they could help.

Local 1001 members purchase and fill backpacks for students in need ...

In the photo above, MAPE Local 1001's Social Action Committee spearheaded efforts to purchase backpacks for students in-need, and then encouraged state employees to fill them up with the necessary school supplies -- several backpacks and school supplies collected at the Minnesota Department of Education in Roseville are shown in the photo. Committee members, from left to right, are: Connie J. Anderson, Michelle Jones (holding a "thank you" sign), Sara Winter (holding a "thank you" sign) and Brenda Tantow. In the photo at the right, MAPE Local 1001 purchased the backpacks, then encouraged state employees to fill them with school supplies.

MAPE Local 1001 members Mike Landers and Sara Winter, from the Minnesota Department of Education, sprang into action, initiating and coordinating the back-to-school backpack project. MAPE Local 1001 kicked it off with the initial purchase of 30 backpacks, but that has doubled to more than 60 backpacks filled with school supplies that the MAPE members delivered to help meet the district’s goal.

Through the project, state employees were asked to “adopt a backpack” and fill it with school supplies. Lists of needed items were obtained by MAPE Local 1001 from the school district. Backpacks were filled with five folders, five notebooks, five pocket folders, a box of pens, a box of pencils, a box of markers, a box of crayons, a ruler and a glue stick.

"We don’t just work in this community," said Landers, who is the Region 10 director. "We also want to contribute to it. We appreciate working in a clean, safe community and want to show that appreciation to the community."

MAPE Local 1001 members collected the newly filled backpacks and delivered them to the Roseville District office on Thursday, Aug. 16.

MAPE Local 1001 members who work in the Roseville area for the Minnesota Department of Education, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), the Minnesota State Lottery and the Minnesota Gambling Control Board worked on the project.

MAPE Local 1001 members participating in the backpack project, along with their workplace, include: Sara Winter, Brenda Tantow, Michelle Jones, Connie J. Anderson, Linda Hildebrant, Jim Mortenson and Mike Matlock from the Minnesota Department of Education; Judi Holloway from MnDOT; Todd Maki from the State Lottery; and Jill Perron from the Gambling Control Board.