Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009

Hazel Grove Elementary students raise $1,100 for Lee’s Summit Social Services

Emily Jarrett, Journal Staff

With the holidays fast approaching, many Lee’s Summit residents are stocking up on canned goods to give to local food pantries.

While cans of fruit and vegetables and boxes of pasta are greatly appreciated, sometimes donors can forget that all important Thanksgiving staple – the turkey.

That’s where the sixth grade students at Hazel Grove Elementary come in.

“We’ve got 100 turkeys to donate today,” said Rianna Deselich, sixth grade coordinator at Hazel Grove, as she unloaded the frozen birds from her truck Friday afternoon. “Not too bad for three weeks of fundraising.”

Traditionally, Deselich explained, sixth grade parents cook a Thanksgiving dinner for the classes the week of Thanksgiving. Last spring, when planning for the event, Deselich had the idea of raising money and donating it to a charitable organization, rather than have the dinner.

“The parents were all for it,” she said. “When we got together in the fall, we started brainstorming ways to raise the money.”

Someone suggested pitting the classes against one another with the winning group receiving a “Turkey Trophy.”

“The kids loved it,” she said. “I don’t think any of them honestly missed having that dinner. And when we explained to them what the money would be for, they really got into the idea.”

All the money the sixth grade students raised would be used to purchase turkeys, which would then be given to Lee’s Summit Social Services. The original goal, Deselich said, was to raise $300 to buy 20 turkeys.

“We thought ‘Oh, $300, that will be a good goal for us to have,’” Deselich said. “We raised that in the first week.”

After three weeks of hard campaigning, volunteering and asking friends and family for a donation, the three sixth grade classes at Hazel Grove raised $1,102.74 – enough money to buy 100 turkeys. Tracy Milliron’s class came in first, raising $525.

“I was blown away by the amount of money they raised,” said Leslie Thomas, who helped with the fundraiser. “There was the spirit of competition between the classes, but it was always about buying turkeys to help others.”

Sixth grader Marissa Mann said she went door-to-door in her neighborhood collecting money for turkeys. “I just told people what we were doing as a class, and they gave me money,” she said.

“I donated my allowance,” added Tessie Deselich. “It’s really important because a lot of people really wouldn’t be able to have Thanksgiving if others didn’t donate food and help them.”

As an added Thanksgiving bonus, Deselich said, the turkeys were sold to the school at cost, thanks to the Hy-Vee located at Third Street and Ward Road.

“We called around trying to see who could give us a deal so we could buy as many turkeys as possible,” Thomas said. “And Hy-Vee was just great. I don’t think they thought we’d need quite this many but they made it work.”

To reach Journal reporter Emily Jarrett, call 816-282-7018 or e-mail ejarrett@lsjournal.com