A meeting of the Covington Rotary could well be the start of a beautiful partnership between the club and local schools.

Rotarians invited principals from all of the Covington schools, which are part of the Kent School District, to lunch on Friday — a development day in the district which gave students the day off.

Jim Tanasse, a member of the Covington club, laid out all that the Rotary has done to promote education in the city as well as ways the principals could reach out and partner with the Rotarians.

“It’s my hope … that all of you do what you do because you have a passion,” Tanasse said. “Notice the difference between what’s an obligation and what’s a true passion. I believe that every ill that effects our community can be solved just by putting your unique passion to work. All that passion is really about attempting to serve you. We know how difficult it is to be in your job.”

Tanasse said this club of 20 has done some amazing things in working with local schools, such as give free dictionaries to every third grader in a program that has grown well beyond Covington and spread throughout the Kent School District.

“What’s amazing about that is when you see a kid that doesn’t have anything get the gift of language for the first time,” Tanasse said.

He highlighted a new but growing project called Backpack Buddies which is offered at Cedar Valley Elementary and Cedar Heights Middle schools. It began last fall. Every Friday 50 students at each school pick up a backpack filled with food for their families and on Mondays they bring it back to school.

Rotarians fill up the backpacks on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

A kindergarten teacher explained to Tanasse that it was a challenge to teach her students during the first two hours of the day because they are hungry. And from there the Backpack Buddies program was born.

Covington Rotary supports a number of other programs at local schools such as Fast Start and Rotary Breakfast every Friday at Kentwood High, sponsorship of a needy family during the holidays at Cedar Valley, as well as the Storehouse’s annual Back to School barbecue every August which provides clothes and a backpack full of school supplies, and scholarships to students from Kentlake and Kentwood — only four students applied in 2010 — among others.

Tanasse said there is so much more that can be done and asked the educators as well as the parent teacher association presidents who were present, “How can we support you?”

He also suggested the idea of starting student Rotary club chapters, something Tanasse would definitely like to see at Kentlake.

Each of the principals introduced themselves and spoke briefly about their schools as well as what they are passionate about.

Miles Erdly, principal at Covington Elementary, is in his first year there after working in Puyallup for 25 years.

“The very first piece of business I got to do was have a meeting with a member of the Covington Rotary to bring the backpack program to Covington Elementary,” Erdly said. “Our focus with all of our students is how can we be successful in all of our lives and how can we be successful every day. We’re also a school that practices virtues. The month of March, our virtue is giving. So, this is a great opportunity and I look forward to a long term relationship with the Rotary club.”

Students at Cedar Valley love the dictionaries provided by Rotary, explained principal Chad Golden, who is in his third year at the school. He said students who are now in the sixth grade still enjoy and use their dictionaries frequently.

But, connecting with the community has gone beyond dictionaries, Golden said.

“We have built some strong partnerships, not only with Rotary, but with Mountain Vineyard, which has helped us with one on one tutoring,” Golden said. “Early childhood is something we’re working on. Mountain Vineyard has really worked with us on our kindergarten readiness camp. We’re looking at how can we expand that and reach out to all of our families and be proactive.”

Tami Unruh, first year principal at Mattson Middle School, said a partnership with Rotary can help support the concept of creating a better community.

“I’m excited to be able to explore whatever partnerships we can do with the Rotary because that provides such a good example for our kids,” Unruh said. “One of the other things we focus on with our kids is being able to make a difference. We tell them that we make a difference every single day.”

Joe Potts, who is in his first year as principal at Kentlake High after spending several years as an assistant at Kentwood, explained that Tanasse is “the first guy I go to whenever I need something and he hasn’t turned us down yet.”

After hearing from all of the educators and parents, Rotary president Kevin Holland closed the meeting, seemingly impressed.

“This has been one of the most inspirational meetings,” Holland said.