Business Management and Operations is a class taken by many students at Park. Park offers this class, but alongside it comes the option of DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America). DECA is a business class that runs on four different operations, for example Bird Feeder and The Storiole. There are many contributions for the class, and one of them is the Bird Feeder, Park’s makeshift thrift store that helps people in need who may not have access to essentials.
Junior Bird Feeder manager Sydney Gallentine said she has been contributing to the Bird Feeder and enjoys helping those in need.
“Being able to help those that need food and hygiene products is a favorite of mine,” Gallentine said. “This is my first year and first semester, and I decided I wanted to join because it’s just like a class.”
Junior Kate Grimm, another contributor to the Bird Feeder, said the Bird Feeder is a resource people can reach out to when they have no other option, and she enjoys having it at Park.
“The Bird Feeder is a resource for people in need of food, clothes, hygiene products, drinks and a lot more,” Grimm said. “I like it because it’s a great resource for kids in need and for families that need to be discreet about their necessities, as well as things that they need and resources that are needed to help them.”
DECA advisor Abigail Lugo said she’s been running the class for about a year and half now, and the Bird Feeder has been changing constantly over time. She said they have also slowly adapted it to the class of Business Management and Operations.
“I’ve been running it for the last year and a half or so, and we used to have a community service course that ran the Bird Feeder within places that you could volunteer to work in, but we’ve adapted it into our business and management course,” Lugo said. “Last year, we really wanted to take a look at the bird feeder and figure out, are we serving our community in the most effective way? If not, how do we reshape or redefine this?”
Gallentine said doing Bird Feeder doesn’t just affect the other people she is giving back to, but her as a person as well.
“I think it makes more people respect you in a way, just for being able to help those people, and then it just makes you feel better about yourself,” Gallentine said.
According to Grimm, when she started, she learned about the Bird Feeder but also her role as a member in DECA.
“I help Sydney and Yosef pack food and I help write emails to social workers so then they can get the food and other things,” Grimm said. “I took the Business Management and Operations class, and that led to me becoming a DECA member, and then our business class runs the four businesses, so I started working with the Bird Feeder.”
Lugo said she loves seeing Bird Feeders being applied into our community, and knowing she lives in Park makes her feel even better watching it develop and improve. She said Bird Feeders have been taking more steps to build themselves up and help more families.
“Now we’re partnering more with STEP (St. Louis Park Emergency Program), which can help families meet more needs that families might have and for a longer sustainability, whereas we just kind of want to be the emergency that bridges the families to STEP and then we want to serve all of Park schools,” Lugo said. ”We just met with all the students and actually met with the social workers and principals in administration from each school site to try to understand their needs.”
DECA meets during 4th hour every day in room B226.
