When small towns and school districts with limited budgets have to struggle with funding, it’s not just the facilities that have to make do, it’s the children as well. The Baldwinville Elementary School is a perfect example – an almost 100-year-old building with leaky ceilings, drafty windows and few resources.
When substitute teacher Lisa March worked there recently, she saw kids on the playground with almost nothing to play with at recess; just a few leaky balls that wouldn’t hold air for more than a few minutes. When Gardner-based InConcert Web Solutions president and CEO Matt Ward heard about this, he realized that something had to be done so that — no matter what the budgetary challenges were — kids could be kids and have the opportunity to play for a few minutes, free from care.
So Ward stepped in and did something about it. On Saturday, May 10, he walked into the Gardner Walmart and cleared the toy shelves of kickballs, basketballs, footballs, jump-ropes, and Frisbees and donated them to Baldwinville Elementary.
“Kids need to be kids,” said Ward. “They need to be able to play during the school day to enable them to learn better. Recess should be an outlet for no worries and a care-free session for kids to clear their heads.”
It’s easy for companies large and small to get caught up in everyday business and lose sight of the big picture. But it’s also easy to see that children really are our future and they deserve all the help they can get, from anyone at any time.