Mary O'Brien of Mary's Place BBQ is among the local business owners working with Dave Heard in the gift-card program.

As Crater High School's athletic director, Dave Heard has dedicated a fair share of time to maintaining relationships within the Central Point community

In the last few weeks, though, that part of his job has taken a dramatic twist as he helps Central Point School District 6 rise to meet the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead of his usual duties, Heard is spending his days helping deliver food and homework to district students and facilitating a restaurant gift-card program that benefits not only families in need, but local businesses that are struggling to stay afloat during the shutdown.

“I'm really busy,” Heard said. “It's keeping us connected to our community. What I think is cool about this program is most of these families don't ever get to go out and eat. But they get restaurant food, and they don't have to cook. It's a treat.”

Through donations from the community and school employees, the district has raised about $15,000 to be distributed to families through restaurant gift cards. The 15 restaurants in the program have been supporters of Crater athletics.

“In one way or another, I know all of them,” Heard said. “They've all helped us out. What a way to kind of keep them going, keep that relationship with them, and help families. There are a lot of families that can use it.”

It has been a much-needed boost for Mary O'Brien, owner of Mary's Place BBQ. She was forced to close her other restaurant at Oak Knoll Golf Course, a municipal facility in Ashland, but says her Central Point location is “holding its own,” partially thanks to the gift-card program.

“It's actually helped me with a little bit of free advertising, getting my name out in front of people who haven't tried my restaurant before,” O'Brien said. “People are coming in to buy a gift card, and maybe they'll buy a sandwich while they are there. It's kind of neat meeting new people out of it.”

Heard and Central Point community volunteer Debbie Saxbury were the catalysts for the gift-card program. They chose the businesses – “Mom and pop, smaller kind of restaurants,” according to Heard – and began soliciting donations, which can be made through the district website.

The restaurants convert them into gift cards of $25 and $50. Heard picks up the cards and hands them off to school counselors and principals, who pass them along to families.

“It's pretty cool. It's kind of a win-win,” Heard said. “It supports the local businesses, who we always tap into with athletics. They're always supporting us, so now it's kind of like we're supporting them by doing this program. And at the same time, we're feeding families.”

O'Brien is matching the amount of every gift card purchased, doubling the value for the district. Through last week, she had done more than $2,000 in gift cards.

Despite losing about 30 catering jobs during the period, the business has allowed O'Brien to maintain her staff.

“Business is definitely down and hurting bad, but Central Point is staying open, and people are supporting us big-time,” O'Brien said. “We appreciate every dollar coming in so I can pay my lease and pay my employees.”

The district gave its employees, who are working during the shutdown, the option of having $10 deducted from their paychecks to support the gift-card program through the end of the school year. As of Monday, employees had donated about $6,000, enough for roughly $400 of gift cards at each restaurant.

“It's been awesome,” Heard said. “One teacher got his check Friday and he said, 'This is a good cause,' and he brought me $400 worth of gift cards from Food For Less, and he put $200 into the portal where they get it deducted from their check.

“And I had a teacher, she's 80 years old, she wrote me a check for $1,500, and I went around to each restaurant and bought $100 worth of gift cards from them.”

Heard also is in charge of the D6 Connected Express, a fleet of 11 buses that distributes food daily to students from Crater and the district's two middle schools and five elementary schools. The district repurposed its summer sack lunch program to begin making the deliveries April 1 and plans to continue through early June.

Last week, the district served about 3,500 students. The buses, each manned by two or three district employees, make about 75 stops each day, giving out 700 breakfasts and nearly 900 lunches. They also serve as a homework exchange, distributing about 1,400 Chromebook laptops for student use.

The schools' mascots come along for the ride and interact with the students, carrying a six-foot stick to remind them about social distancing guidelines. They also pass out some district swag.

“Any eighth-grader that comes to a stop gets a Crater shirt,” Heard said. “Any fifth-grader that comes to a stop gets a Scenic or Hanby shirt, whichever middle school they're going to go to next year.

“Really what it's about is connecting to our kids and our community.”