12 days of pizza
By:
Staff report
Val Lemkau with First National and Seth Weber (on right) with Pizza Ranch present Brandon Valley Intermediate School principal Nick Skibsted (middle) with coupons for six BVIS families to receive one large pizza or eight-piece bucket of chicken per day for 12 days. Pizza Ranch and First National also presented eight coupons to Valley Springs Elementary families on Dec. 18. Jamie Hult/BV Journal
It’s the season of giving, and what better way to share the love than free pizzas and chicken for the holidays?
First National Bank in Brandon and the Brandon Pizza Ranch last week teamed up in the “12 Days of Pizza” project, which provides coupons to 14 Brandon Valley Intermediate School and Valley Springs Elementary families for one large pizza (or eight-pieces of chicken) per day for 12 days.
“First National helps defray, or cover, the cost for us to do this,” explained Seth Weber, a manager at Pizza Ranch. “It’s a good deal all around.”
Weber and Val Lemkau with First National Bank of Brandon presented six coupons to BVIS principal Nick Skibsted and eight coupons to VSE principal Tanya Palmer to give to families in need.
The idea for “12 Days of Pizza” came from Sean Covel, producer of Napoleon Dynamite and South Dakota native. Covel heard the need for an extended out-of-school food program when his friend, a second-grade teacher, mentioned how some of her students are dependent on existing programs that provide free or reduced meals through the school year and weekends like the “Backpack program.” A supplemental program was especially needed when schools close for the holidays, leaving some students without a dependable meal source.
Covel created “12 Days of Pizza” in 2015 with the help of Black Hills Community Bank and Pizza Ranch Rapid City.
Now in its fourth year, 12 Days of Pizza” will provide more than 14,000 meals to nearly 1,200 families across the Midwest.
