By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
The Dennis Labadie memorial backpack giveaway successfully gave out hundreds of backpacks to students on Saturday, Aug. 9 at the office of Crestline Real Estate at Old Mill Road and Lake Drive.
On Thursday, just days before the giveaway the mother-son team of Rosemarie and Dominic Labadie, in honor of Rosemarie’s late husband Dennis, drove into Los Angeles to choose the 275 back packs for the students. “We saw so many backpacks of various sizes and design, while imagining the looks on the students’ faces as they choose their own personal backpacks,” said Rosemarie. Dennis had owned the Alpenhorn News newspaper and began these backpack giveaways to enable students to start the school year with the proper school supplies. He believed that students would be more confident and have some pride with a new backpack that they had chosen themselves from a nice selection of quality backpacks.
The Labadie family in front of the generous donors stand covered with backpacks: Aurora in front of Rosemarie, Harlow, Dominic, and Miranda (l to r).
The only requirement to get the free backpacks and school supplies was that the student must arrive with their parent or guardian and attend school within the boundary of Rim of the World Unified School District. The only question asked of those attending was “what grade will you be in” so the appropriate school materials could be given to them.
Families began arriving at about 8:30 for the 9:00 a.m. distribution. Their first stop was inside the Crestline Real Estate office, where the backpacks were arranged by size. They then went down the line of school supplies – manned by member of the Crestline Lions Club and the Crestline-Lake Gregory Rotary Club – and picked up notebooks, notebook paper, three-ring binders, folders, markers, crayons, pencils, scissors, glue sticks, erasers and other supplies depending on their grade level.
By 10:30 a.m. almost everything had been distributed, and everyone was packing up to go home, feeling positive about school beginning on Tuesday, Aug. 12, although memories of school beginning after Labor Day circulated among the volunteers.
“The heat of summer has just begun, and now school is also beginning. I sure hope the air conditioners have been installed; we never had them up here when I was a student, but our teachers could open the windows back then, and now they can’t,” said one volunteer.
The first children in line were the Whitney family. Lila will be attending MPH; she had Ms. Plemons last year at VOE. Her brother Finn is going into fourth grade at VOE, and sister Jemma will be attending first grade. Their father, Jeff Whitney, has lived on the mountain for 30 years and their mother, Leah Jobe Whitney, is a 1997 Rim High graduate.
The hope of Dennis Labadie and now of the two service clubs is that these supplies will help students to confidently attend school and have the tools to enable them to be successful in the classroom from day one.
Aurora Labadie was helping the Rotary Club give out scissors; she explained, “they have rulers on them to help you measure and cut correctly.” Third-grader Emmett enjoyed picking out his own backpack and has attended school on the mountain since he was in preschool. His father Mathew Simpson is a 2003 Rim High grad. Both Aurora and Emmett were members of the second-grade EarlyAct Club – sponsored by the Crestline-Lake Gregory Rotary Club – this past school year.
Lots of unsolicited “thank yous,” were heard from the students and parents as the service club volunteers filled the student-chosen backpacks the school supplies. Both clubs have supported this backpack giveaway for years, by donating the school supplies they have purchased from the funds they raise. The backpacks and school supplies can save families up to hundreds of dollars per child each year.
Several community members and small businesses donated to this grassroots backpack giveaway: A. Polston Concrete; OnPoint Excavation; The Daniels Family; the Cozy Cabins real estate women Brenda Meyer, Nancy Jo Madrigal, Nancy Elmers, Michelle Vega; Dan Faranda Construction; Haley Weiland and Elena Wilson.
After the rush was over, Rosemarie Labadie said, “There was a lot of community spirit here today. It’s so good for the students, and it is such a nice way to remember Dennis and his dedication to education. I hope everyone has a wonderful and successful school year.”
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