By DOUGLAS W. MOTLEY
Senior Writer
With the end of summer vacation rapidly approaching, Rim of the World Unified School District students are scheduled to return to their classrooms on Wednesday, Aug. 12.
In an effort to get students ready to return to class, Crestline Real Estate broker/owner Rosemarie Labadie is, once again, providing brand-new backpacks for all returning students, just as she has been doing for over 20 years.
Labadie, who has organized this generous benefit for the community, has once again volunteered to work with members of the Crestline Lions Club, as well as members of the Crestline-Lake Gregory Rotary Club, assisting parents in getting their children prepared to be good students.
“Those students who are prepared and who have the right tools tend to be more confident and better students,” Labadie recently told the Alpine Mountaineer, noting that the annual Dennis Labadie Memorial Backpack Giveaway will begin distributing backpacks for Rim District students at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8 and continue until they run out. The giveaway will take place at the Crestline Real Estate office at 23750 Knapps Cutoff, located at the corner of Lake Drive and Old Mill Road in Crestline.
Labadie noted that the backpack giveaway began 24 years ago, in 2002, when Crestline resident and former owner of The Alpenhorn News, Dennis Labadie, decided that those children who began school on a positive note do better in school. He believed that giving out backpacks to those who needed and wanted them encouraged them to do their best in school and that those who do better in school are more successful in life.
Rosemarie added, “My late husband, Dennis H. Labadie, started the backpack giveaway remembering his childhood growing up in Detroit, Mich., without much money. Over the years, he bought thousands of backpacks for local students.” After he sold the newspaper, he and his son, Dominic, continued the giveaway, and Dominic and Rosemarie continue this tradition today as a memorial to Dennis after his passing. Rosemarie continued, “Dennis believed if you give a child the tools they need, they can succeed in school. Please join us on Saturday morning.”
Dennis Labadie also knew, from his own life experiences, that students would be more excited to return to school with a new backpack and with proper school supplies that could enable them to perform better. Over the years, this has proved to be true, as many students have returned the next year to say thanks and that having a new backpack got them off on the right foot. One year, over 400 backpacks were distributed.
The backpacks will not be empty – the Crestline Lions Club and the Crestline-Lake Gregory Rotary Club will fill the backpacks with age-appropriate school supplies, such as pencils or pens, paper, colored pencils or crayons and erasers, as they have done for several years as a community service. Both groups purchase these new supplies out of funds they earn from the community through their fundraisers.
To receive a backpack, students must attend a school in the Rim of the World Unified School District. Both the parent and the child must attend, so the backpack can be properly sized to the student. All students in a family are eligible to get a backpack, but each child must attend to be fitted properly.
To fund this project, last weekend in front of Crestline Real Estate, the Labadies held a “donation” yard sale where those who stopped decided how much something was worth to them and paid that amount, with all the funds raised going directly to purchasing the new backpacks for the students. They will be purchasing the backpacks this week.
Any community member who wants to be involved in Rosemarie’s generosity to the students and desires to assist her with that expense can let her know or drop by with a donation at her Crestline Real Estate office.
In addition, there is a drop-off point for people who would like to donate boxes of tissues for the teachers’ classrooms, as many students come to school with noses that need to be blown. Often teachers purchase them out of their own funds for the students.
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