It's More than Just a Vending Machine

For the typical TABC student, the snack machine that rests in the lunchroom merely serves as the dispenser of a midday snack to get you through the day. For the typical school across America, it serves a similar function, often resulting in a profit for the school. However, TABC is not a typical school, and it's snack machine is not typical either.

We all know that the snack machine has been through a lot. It has died, and been revived (on many occasions), and gets consistent use almost everyday. In fact, the snack machine has been at TABC since 1994, bringing smiles to faces for 23 years. It is quite fitting that the machine has been around for so long because it not only provides snacks for students, it improves lives every day.

Prior to 1994, when a student wanted to go on a school trip that required a payment, those who could not pay were sponsored by other generous families outside of TABC. However, two TABC students thought of a better way to help out their fellow classmates. They decided, along with Rabbi Grossman, to purchase a $4000.00 snack machine, and with the money they made from the machine, they would put it towards helping TABC students in need.

At the time, with reasonable prices of 40 cents and 60 cents for different snacks, TABC raised enough money to pay back the money for the machine, and continue to raise enough money for TABC students. While the prices were raised after 21 years, not much about the machine has changed. Everyone has their favorite snack, or trick to make the coin acceptor work, but other than that, it’s the same old machine.

Today, the snack machine is refilled twice a day, and the money is still used for charity. It’s really a win-win situation. You get a snack and your money is used to help those in need.