Kroc, Boys & Girls Club, Cd'A Fire team up to run recess

COEUR d’ALENE — Elementary students at several Coeur d’Alene schools are receiving a gift from community organizations.

Personnel from the Kroc Center, the Boys & Girls Club and the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department will give the students their time and attention during recess.

“What we wanted to do was fill a void to support our local schools and give students every chance to succeed,” Kroc Youth Education Director Kip Sharbono said of the effort The Kroc Center is calling Mobile Kroc.

Kroc has coordinated with administrators at Atlas, Borah, Bryan, Fernan, Ramsey and Winton elementary schools because at least 40 percent of their students receive free or reduced lunch.

“What we worked out with each school was to loan them our most valuable resource—our staff — on the day of the week with the highest number of discipline issues. We didn’t add another program but took that existing opportunity of recess to connect with the kids,” Sharbono said.

The Kroc Center has provided its staff to these schools to run group games that are getting kids active, teaching sportsmanship and providing positive male role models for the kids who need them most. The only complaint from the schools and students are that Kroc staff can’t run recess every week, but The Kroc Center has a solution for that as well.

The Boys and Girls Club and Coeur d’Alene Fire Department joined the effort this week, adding more schools and days to the program and increasing the number of quality adults engaging with the youth in our community.

“The Boys & Girls Club and Fire Department partnership is really exciting,” said Kroc Executive Director Maj. Ben Markham, “It shows that we as a community can work together to take care of our kids.”

Any individual or group interested in learning more about helping run recess at local schools can contact Kip Sharbono at 208-763-0618.