At our March 9, 2024 Meeting, our speaker was Andre Bennett, director of RUSD Special Programs, Racine Alternative Learning. It was so interesting and inspiring! Andre has an extensive background in both human services and education and currently is the director of 12 programs within RUSD. These programs are 1st grade through age 21. Andre would like to see the programs moved to an actual school, but that is unlikely in the near future. Funding is a critical issue because their grant is ending. Almost all are eligible for free lunches which indicates an extremely high level of poverty among the families served by the programs. Because of this, the altruistic needs tend to be very basic. Socks, underwear, healthy snacks, and Walmart gift cards would be good examples of items we could provide. Andre left with the items we had collected for this month’s altruistic donations. We then voted to donate $250 in gift cards to RAL. Here are Jane, Susan, and Terri delivering the donation.
