Students fill backpacks with needed items for other children
Backpacks filled with love
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It took 50
backpacks, $630 and 12 students to make a difference in the lives
of kids who are victimized by circumstances beyond their
control.
The student
council at Robbinsdale Elementary School met after school Tuesday
in the last part of a project called Cases for Kids that began in
February. The students scurried around, stuffing clothes, combs,
hair ties, puzzle books, markers and other items - depending on the
age and sex of the child - into the backpacks. The backpacks were
custom-made for children in grades one through five.
The backpacks will
be available to Rapid City children who are removed from their
homes due to domestic violence, substance abuse and other
situations.
Backpacks are
distributed by Rapid City's Love, INC - or Love In the Name of
Christ. The agency, begun in 2001, works to help churches and
volunteers fill community needs.
Most of the
students helping Tuesday took it to heart and put themselves in
that situation.
"If you were in
some other kid's shoes, and you were taken away (from home), think
about how you'd feel," Willie Sutterer, a Robbinsdale fifth-grader,
said.
Katie Remington
and Alaina Klapperich, also fifth-graders, helped each other with a
backpack and thought about how it would be if they had to leave
their home and someone gave them a backpack.
"I would make me
feel good that other people thought of me," Alaina
said.
The student
council went shopping twice for clothes and other personal items.
Buying clothes was the girls' favorite part; they would show each
other an outfit and comment on how cute it was, according to
student council support staff Rebecca Johnson and Megan
Bietz.
Not only was this
project beneficial to children in need, but the students themselves
learned some essentials.
"It was good for
the kids to learn to work together," Bonnie Kjerstad, another
supporter of the student council, said.
Fifth-grader
Willie was involved in various ways - he helped plan, collected
pocket change, went shopping and packed the backpacks.
"I like knowing
that I have helped people," Willie said. He also said that he would
recommend the project to other schools because it's a "really good
cause."
Officials with
Love, INC say the need for the backpacks is growing.
"Hopefully, next
year, we can raise more (money)," Kjerstad said.
This was the first
year Robbinsdale has participated in the project.
The council
sponsored two "hat days" for students and faculty, and once a week,
the student council collected pocket change to raise money. Black
Hills Corp. donated the backpacks, and local dentist Mark Stolz
donated packets of toothbrushes and toothpaste to the
school.
Kjerstad said it
wouldn't have been possible to do the project without the
donations.
"Everyone pitched
in - the staff and students - and everything escalated," she
said.
Contact Sarah Beu
at 394-8424 or sarah.beu@rapidcityjournal.com
Posted in Top-stories on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:00 pm
/news/local
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