'A little silly' but a lot important

It's the best part of his job, John Kotlarczyk said.

Kotlarczyk is the senior director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Waste Reduction at Deerfield-based Walgreens.

On Friday, Earth Day, he fulfilled both those titles when Walgreens donated a red “Buddy Bench” to The Cove School, 350 Lee Road, Northbrook.

“In the end I think what makes people the most happy is the ability to give back,” Kotlarczyk said.

The Cove School serves kindergarten through 12th-grade students with complex learning disabilities. The school draws about 160 students from more than 60 school districts throughout metropolitan Chicago, said Alexandra Argentar, The Cove School director of advancement.

“Families come to Cove when they are seeking an educational fit for their child that they may not have found in their home school,” she said.

Some of the students who've gone through the school's Transitions and career education programs currently have jobs or internships at Walgreens retail locations, she said.

“The bench and the Earth Day partnership is wonderful in itself,” Argentar said, “and the potential for further partnership with a company that has demonstrated its commitment to employing people with disabilities is very exciting for us.”

The feeling is mutual.

“Working with special needs has been a part of who we are for a long time,” Kotlarczyk said. “The fact that the school focuses on that makes it a natural fit for me.

“I think that's what it boils down to at the end, the philosophical piece — they're trying to do the things we believe in,” he said.

The Buddy Bench — placed in a hallway leading to The Cove's main classrooms on that rainy April 22 — is red because it's the happy product of 1,500 recycled, foam Red Noses that are the exclusive purview of Walgreens.

A partnership between Walgreens and Comic Relief US, Red Nose Day is a campaign that provides children access to health care, food and nutrition and disease prevention.

Since the program started in the United States in 2015, Red Nose Day has raised more than $275 million and impacted 30 million children; Walgreens has raised more than $140 million toward that total, press information stated.

Beginning in the United Kingdom in 1988, Red Nose Day has since raised nearly $2 billion globally.

Through May 31 this year in-store customers may purchase a red nose for $1, or donate to their liking. Online shoppers may donate at Walgreens.com/RedNoseDay.

“We've really been able to make a difference, and I can speak for a lot of team members at Walgreens, it's something we're super-proud of. It adds a little silly to your day as well,” Kotlarczyk said.

All that polyurethane has to go somewhere. The materials for the Buddy Benches come from in-store red nose “take-back” bins and excess inventory, Kotlarczyk said.

He said Dan Leskovec, Walgreens senior manager of Environmental Sustainability and Waste Reduction, found a company — Green Tree Plastics, out of Evansville, Indiana — that takes all those spent noses and makes them into benches Walgreens donates nationwide.

Since 2019 Walgreens has collected 28,500 red noses that have been manufactured into benches.

“Part of the fun of what I get to do is I deal with materials and give them a new life,” Kotlarczyk said.

Now 1,500 red noses have a new life at The Cove School.

Though the Cove Cougar mascot uses blue and gold as its colors, the messages don't clash.

“Our mission is to provide a highly individualized education for students, so creating a space where two people can sit down and have a conversation I think is very beneficial,” Argentar said.

The Earth Day donation also made a point.

“It reminds the students about the importance of their commitment to the earth and to recycling, and to what their role is in this important area,” Argentar said.