Olympus Jr. High students and local business owner give to Christmas Box House
The Olympus Jr. High Community Service Committee's pilot run was a stellar success.
This student-run club is new to the school this year, but they started big by raising $4,500 for the Christmas Box House over just four months time. The fundraiser--for which they sold "dress-code appropriate" t-shirts to classmates for $10 each--ended on Dec. 16.
"All they need is some support and help with their ideas," PTA Service Chair Katie Graham said. "They can really do a lot. A lot of us have really been blown away by what they've accomplished."
The idea started in September when the Community Service Committee's 25 young members toured the Christmas Box House, a temporary shelter for abused and neglected children, and decided they wanted to help.
Selling shirts was the students' own idea, and though the club's adult supervisors were a little overwhelmed by the students' ambition, they were glad to see their excitement over the project, Graham said.
When Holladay resident Bob Pedersen, co-owner along with his brother Jeff of the Del Sol company, found out about the project, he donated the resources and labor for 600 shirts to be printed. The shirts were of the students' own design, gray with the school's bulldog mascot in the background, and service-related words in the foreground. Printed with specially-treated ink, the dog turns blue in sunlight, and the word "Service" turns red. This is the same process that Del Sol has used on its shirts and product line that are sold around the world.
The students also did all the advertising and selling of the shirts themselves, at tables in the lunchroom before school and during lunch, at basketball games, a holiday dance and school performances of "The Little Match Girl." They presented the project to classes and teachers, telling them about what the Christmas Box House does for children.
"I felt lucky to be able to witness, and watch them in action," Graham said.
The school as a whole supported the project as well. The student body officers helped sell and advertise, and many faculty members and staff as well as about three quarters of the student body purchased the shirts. The office staff even started taking orders from others in the school district and delivering shirts through interoffice mail after word about the project got out via Granite newsletters.
The Community Service Committee was able to present Richard Paul Evans, popular Utah author and founder of the Christmas Box House, with a check for $3,900 when he visited the school on Dec. 6. The rest was sent to the Christmas Box House after the fundraiser ended.
"The things that they've done for us will certainly make a difference for the children we serve," Christmas Box House Assistant Director Sherri Engar said.
The House shelters 5,500 children every year. The Olympus Jr. students' donations went towards many things the children need, including clothing, medical and dental costs not covered by Medicaid, utilities and upkeep of the House itself, and of course Christmas presents.
