Rooting for Redington

Last Friday night Redington High School debuted its varsity football team. The final score was not pretty. This year’s Huskies team has a different calling than most teams. They are laying a foundation that will impact the program for years to come. There are no seniors on this team so taking it in the chops will certainly be the norm but it doesn’t mean there won’t be successes.

I can relate by experience. When my oldest son Matt was 10 years old, a friend of mine and I decided we wanted to take our boys around the state of Colorado to play competitive baseball. We had one stipulation, the players all had to come from our little town of Delta. As we entered tournaments we quickly learned that we were going against powerhouse teams who literally would have a hundred kids from their area tryout and they would choose 12 players. We scrambled to fill out our 12-player roster. The tournaments we entered, thankfully, had mercy rules.

Games were called after two innings if a team was ahead by twenty runs or after the fourth inning if a team was ahead by 10 runs. If we made it to the 10-run mercy rule, it was a good day. The team stuck together though and by the time they were 13 winning games was the norm and they even won a tournament.

Fast forward to their senior year in high school, 10 of those 12 kids were still playing baseball and in 2011 they were the first Delta team to win a high school playoff game in over a decade. The emotions of that day were worth every lump we took. So here’s to the Redington Football team, hang in there, take your lumps, enjoy the successes on individual plays and don’t look at the scoreboard that success will come soon enough.

United Way making an impact

This school year our friends at the Mat-Su United Way organized a “stuff the bus” school supply drive that to me was astounding in numbers.

Fellow Sunrise Rotarian and United Way Development Director Chelsea Fields reports that 1,028 back packs filled with school supplies were given to Mat-Su Valley school children. I know on a national level that non-profit organizations get a bad rap for high administration salaries and lavish spending but what the local folks do — folks who are the boots on the ground — is impactful. Giving away 1,028 back packs filled with school supplies lifted a heavy burden off of a lot of families.

Calling out customer service

If a customer has a bad experience with a business it doesn’t take long for them to get the word out. They will vent their frustration with ease. In the past two weeks I experienced two people who excelled at customer service.

A colleague and I had dinner last week at The Grape Tap restaurant. I’m an eat-what’s-on-my-plate kind of guy, but my colleague is a bit, shall we say, fussier. Our waitress Melissa (sorry Melissa, I didn’t catch your last name) answered the bell accommodating every request with a smile on her face. I was a little frustrated for her but the meal was great and so was the conversation. Melissa made the experience that much better.

I had my oil changed at Midas in Palmer this week. Generally, when you ask for an oil change that’s what you get. After my truck was in the bay for a period, Service Advisor Chris Nelson came and spoke with me and started with “after our courtesy inspection we found…”. I braced myself for the worst. “Your license plate bulb is out and one of your center brake light bulbs is out.” He shot me the price to replace them which was very affordable and since I was bracing for a catastrophic report I quickly agreed to them replacing the bulbs. He then went on to say, “Dodge recommends the following service for your truck at the current mileage.” He then gave me the recommendations and the price to have these services done in case I was interested down the road. I appreciated the extra effort that Chris and his team gave me. I’m sure Midas appreciates Chris’ ability to get the add on sale.

So thank you, Chris and Melissa and I’m sure we’ll be visiting your establishments again soon.

Back to School photos

In today’s edition of the Frontiersman, you will find two full pages of “Back to School” photos submitted to us by parents as the apple of their collective eyes head back to get some knowledge. I enjoy these photos because they are a mixed bag of happy kids and those who realize their summer is over and aren’t afraid to show their displeasure in the photo.

Our team member Nicole Anderson suggested this idea and has taken the reins of this project. We have been overwhelmed with photos. Next Friday we will have two more pages. We’re expecting more photos as the Kindergarten kids head to school next week.

Ending on a good one

We have so many impactful programs in the area that help families in need.

One program presented to the Wasilla Sunrise Rotary club this week and it was one I could personally relate to. Kids Kupboard Executive Director Lynette Ortolano spoke about her program. There were no power point slides just her talking to us about her personal experience with childhood hunger and how she felt it was her calling to battle this issue.

Her program provides lunches in the summer, plus breakfast and suppers to kids during the school year. These kids don’t always get a full meal at home. The program isn’t based on income, it’s based on need. No paperwork is required to participate. Lynette told us stories of her own childhood and how she would go to school hungry. There were days that her parents couldn’t provide her a lunch. Often hoping that someone would offer to share something from their lunch without her asking.

I had empathy for her but it didn’t hit home until she spoke of how her brother would come home after school and grab a slice of bread and put salt on it. His thinking was that the salt will help make him feel full. Coming from a family with five kids and my mom trying to stretch the grocery budget on an enlisted man’s military salary, I would often eat a piece of bread with sugar sprinkled on it after school. Our cupboards weren’t always full and sometimes you had to be resourceful instead of hungry. But, I never went to school without at least a half sandwich, a piece of fruit and a dime in my pocket to buy a pint of milk.

You’ll see a bigger presence for Kid’s Cupboard in the Frontiersman. For more information about the program and how you can help, you can call Lynette at 360-9476 or email her at lynette@kidscupboard.org.