Students at Evergreen Elementary are looking to make a difference in the community by making a difference in the lives of pets needing forever homes.
The fifth grade class leadership group learned that St. Frances Animal Shelter was itself in need of a forever home, so they decided to begin fundraising to help the nonprofit get closer to its goal of buying or building a new shelter.
As part of the social-emotional learning program that started at the beginning of the school year, instructor Tawney Crowley said students would be taught leadership skills. It was an idea thought up by herself, lead teacher Jenn Miller-Yancey and fifth grade teacher Laurie Hagelman.
“(Laurie) said before the year started that she really wanted to instill this ethic of service into these kids,” Crowley said. A block of time was designated to focus on leadership and service. “We started by working on character traits.”
Those traits, like loyalty, humility, perseverance, integrity and self-discipline, among others, were then translated into service projects.
“I brainstormed with the students the kinds of things they’d like to do, and a big group of kids wanted to work with the animal shelter,” said Tracey Martin, the long-term substitute teacher who filled in for Crowley when she went on maternity leave. “I called St. Frances Animal Rescue — I didn’t even know there was a shelter — and talked to Joan Sargent.”
At first, the kids thought they could volunteer at the shelter. When they found out St. Frances was still trying to raise funds to get a permanent shelter in place, they started thinking of ways to raise money. St. Frances is trying to raise enough money to either purchase an existing building or build something new. Sargent keeps whatever cats come their way at her house or they’re fostered in other homes.
The fifth graders came up with the Empty Your Pockets campaign March 7 to March 21. They will place signs and donations cans around town, urging people to give. Additionally, the students will hold bake sales at City Market on March 12 and March 19.
“Some of the kids are talking about going through their neighborhoods and asking people to donate. That’s not a requirement,” Martin said. “They also want to do a car wash/lemonade stand/bake sale in the spring. They had tons of ideas for fundraising.”
Martin said she encouraged the kids to do what they would like to on their own. “If there was a shelter, they would be there, helping. They were so disappointed there wasn’t something they could go do. They wanted to be with the animals to feed them or clean cages.”
Sargent has been going to the school to talk to students about the need for a shelter and about animal safety.
“Our primary thing is that a lot of the kids don’t know about us,” Sargent said. “I talk (to them) about our mission in the community.”
She said the enthusiasm and efforts shown by the kids at Evergreen is encouraging, especially since the process to build a shelter can take years and thousands of dollars to complete. “It’s a long haul.”
The process of fundraising has also been an opportunity for Crowley and Martin to teach the students how to become involved in making positive changes in the community by speaking up and working with others. They said the students tend to internalize their feelings, but still care about what’s happening to those around them.
“We looked at what’s going on at the middle school and just what the social norms are up there … and decided that we’re probably going to make a bigger impact if we could enable the kids in the fifth grade going into middle school to become confident in themselves as leaders,” Crowley said. “The idea is that you flood the middle school with that mentality, and hopefully it will start to create change in the culture up there.”
A goal has yet to be set by the students on how much they wish to raise, which is another realistic aspect the teachers can help them understand. “They’d probably say $1 million,” Crowley said with a laugh.
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