MHIA & Giada!
Jeffrey Boan - AP IMAGES
How does this have anything to do with MHIA and material handling, you ask.
Well, first a little background on the Back the Pack program. Back the Pack was started by Sue Kutz, a local community volunteer, to send needy children home on Fridays with a full backpack so they would have food to eat over the weekend.
When the program began, it was run entirely by volunteers and was only able to serve one school per week. Luckily, after the creation of the Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL) program at the Applied Technology Center located on Northwestern High School’s campus in Rock Hill, the Back the Pack was able to utilize TDL to automate and streamline Back the Pack. Now the program is able to accommodate 650 students in 17 schools per week. That’s pretty impressive.
So, again, what does this have to do with MHIA?
Well, I’ll tell you. The TDL program that helps Back the Pack was conceptualized by MHIA’s Allan Howie who wrote “Fundamentals of Warehousing and Distribution” and he pitched the idea to the Rock Hill School Systems. The program is designed specifically for 9thand 10th grade students to provide them with essential knowledge, skills, and experiences related to career opportunities in the warehouse, distribution, logistics, transportation/automotive industries.
Also, through donations from MHIA members to the Material Handling Education Foundation the Don Frazier Supply Chain Training Center (where Back the Pack is run) was created.
So, if you would like to learn about or find out how you can help MHIA’s educational programs be sure to stop by The Hub during ProMat.
