By William Meiners
Herald Staff Writer
[private]The Ithaca Rotary Club recently donated $1,600 to Ithaca Public Schools to help pay for overdue school lunch fees. That funding, along with alleviating some financial stress on families, helps ensure that all students receive nourishing meals throughout the school year.
“The donation from the Ithaca Rotary club was to help cover some of the delinquent lunch account balance that accumulates over the course of the year,” said Steven Netzley, superintendent of Ithaca Public Schools. “We make sure all of our students get a meal regardless of the status of their lunch account.”
Netzley explained that once a lunch account is “in the negative,” Rick Bongard, food service director, contacts the family and works with them to get the balance paid off in a reasonable amount of time.
“Over the course of a school year, some accounts never get paid off, so the total negative balance ends up being paid by the district’s food service account at the end of the school year in June,” he said. “We are very thankful for the generous donation from Ithaca Rotary. This will help offset some of the delinquent lunch account balances.”
Jared Macha, president of Ithaca Rotary, said the club does several things throughout the year, including grant writing for matching funds from the Rotary Foundation and various fundraising events. “This year we held a golf outing at the Fields Golf Course with sponsorships and a field raffle, which raised quite a bit of money,” he said. “We also did well with the sports schedule, where businesses can put their logos and information on the schedule we distribute throughout the community.”
In his second year with the Rotary Club, Macha, branch manager of Isabella Bank in Ithaca, is rotating through his year as club president. Each year, the organization focuses on areas related to a mission of improving basic education, child health, and economic and community development. “We come together as a board once a quarter to look for opportunities where we can serve the community, whether that be through community service or monetarily,” he said.
You might liken this donation to “food for thought.” Keeping food in bellies can only enhance the education of young minds. “Ithaca Rotary donates money for various local community projects and programs every year,” Netzley said. “This year they approached me about making a donation to help with the delinquent lunch accounts and I worked with them on that project.”
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