On May 15th, three groups from local high schools met in our training room to compete against each other for our 9th Annual Give Back Program. While each group will walk away with a portion of the $5,000 Crest gives, it’s clear that the 2019 Give Back Program by Savannah Fagan
groups are aiming for the first place prize of $2,500 to give to a charity, non-profit organization, or project of their choice. The students present their ideas in front of a group of Crest Foods managers (and the new Crest Ink re- porter!), who then discuss the information, presentation itself, and the student’s level of involvement with their choice of what to use their money towards. First up was the Rochelle High School’s FFA chapter. The three students presented us with their idea of a first aid kit for the local farmers. The chapter members form an assembly line to put together the kits, which includes all of your necessary first aid supplies plus a few extra items you may not think of. With their assembly line process it only took them approximately 8 minutes to fill 50 kits. Last year, the students tested their kits by handing them out at Maplehurst Farms and all of the kits were grabbed up quickly! With the amount of local farmers in the area, this is a fantastic idea, especially since medical help is not always available instantaneously when a farmer is out in the middle of their field. The second presentation was presented by the most local high school and largest group, AFC (Ashton-Franklin Center). They chose to represent the Dixon American Legion, a local non-profit organization. The Legion does not receive the recognition or assistance like they should, despite all of the wonderful things they do for the community. Each year the Legion works closely with the local Boy Scout Troops as well as sponsoring five boys to attend Boys State, which is a week-long program that teaches those who attend the rights, responsibilities, and privileges of citizenship. The Heroes to Hometown Program, Operation Comfort, and Wounded Warriors are several other programs the American Legion helps out tremendously. After seeing all of the good the American Legion does for the community, the AFC club members felt the need to make the public more aware of the assistance the American Legion could use. Our final and smallest group was the Dixon Key Club, who chose the Salvation Army of Lee County. With only two members able to present, the excitement and passion they felt about their choice was very clear. To name a few things, the Salvation Army helps provide financial assistance to those in need, assists the elderly, educates on do- mestic violence, and provides disaster relief. This year the Dixon Key Club got involved by volunteering for the an- nual Christmas bell ringing, raising $5,000.00 and serving over twenty shifts. They also put on an Easter Egg Hunt, stuffing over THIRTEEN THOUSAND eggs for their and the Dixon Park District’s egg hunt. They charged $3.00 per child or accepted a donation and 100% of what they raised went directly towards the Salvation Army. This past year, the Key Club had 72 members and put in a total of 1,500 service hours! After the three presentations, we left the room to discuss what we had just heard. It was unanimous that with the level of involvement and the presentation itself, the Dixon Key Club would take 1st place and $2,500.00. The Rochelle FFA took 2nd place and received $1,500.00 and AFC 3rd, receiving $1,000.00. We would like to thank the students for their time and effort they put in to these presentations. It was such an enlightening experience learning about these different organizations and projects!
6 Crest Ink July, August & September 2019
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