Modern Materials Handling - January 2011

modern 60 Seconds with...Sue KutzTiTle: Community volunteer/advocate for helping hungrychildren. Kutz is also a finalist inthe Woman of Worth competitionsponsored by L’Oreal.locaTion: Rock Hill, S.C.experience: Distributing bags offood to underserved children since2008.primary Focus: The BackThe Pack program identifiesundernourished students in theRock Hill, S.C., school district anddiscretely provides them withnutritious food on weekends toalleviate the symptoms of chronichunger. Distribution is done usinghigh school students enrolled at theDon Frazier Supply Chain TrainingCenter at the Applied TechnologyCenter, a technical high school inRock Hill.Modern: What interested you inthis program?Kutz: It started with a conversationwith the school superintendent. Ilearned that 53% of our students areusing the free or reduced-price lunchprogram. More importantly, I learnedthat more than 1,000 children in ourdistrict go home on the weekendswith little or no food. My daughterand I talked to the superintendentto see what we could do to help andthat led to the Back The Pack program.Each weekend, we’re sendinghome packages of food that are discretelyput in the book bags of about650 elementary and middle schoolstudents during the school year. We’rehoping to include high school studentsin the future.Modern: How does the programwork?Kutz: Undernourished students areidentified by a nurse, counselor,teacher or school administrator intheir school. The district office contactstheir parents to let them knowabout the program. The most commonway to distribute the bags offood is to put them in their book bagswhile they’re out at recess or at lunchso that they’re not stigmatized by theother kids.Modern: What role does theapplied Tech center play?Kutz: The warehouse and distributionclass fills the orders as part oftheir curriculum. They receive fooditems at the warehouse from a foodwholesaler or from civic groups intown. Once they get the items, theycheck everything for an expirationdate and then put them away in acarousel system. To fill the orders, thestudents kit the bags by picking eightfood items and two juice boxes to aplastic zip lock bag that goes back inthe carousel. They’re then picked toa bin. The bins are then delivered tothe schools.Modern: now that you’ve workedin a warehouse, how do you feelabout a career in distribution?Kutz: I have a new insight and deeprespect for the importance that distributionplays in delivering the productto the end user, and in this case, it’sa hungry child. At the Frazier Center,the kids are learning about communityservice along with materials handlingstandards.Barbara Barkley/Rock Hill Herald50 J anuary 2011 / modern maTerials Handling mmh.com