So this year the family decided to do things a little different. Every year my side of the family (mom and dad, amy and matt, lindsey and mark, me and chris, and my grandpa) draw names for a gift exchange. We each get one person and we spend somewhere around $100 a person. Instead of giving gifts this year we decided as a family that we would donate the money to a good cause.....NOW, where to send our money???? That was the question. My grandpa saw an article in the newspaper awhile back in regards to a lot of children not being able to afford lunches at school, so he asked me if Olivia and Owens school had this problem. I went to the school and spoke to Mr. Zucal the principal and had a long discussion on how to best use the money we were going to donate. He confirmed that one of the most lacking areas for the children was food. Well, that settled it. No child should ever be hungry. If you have ever been to anything that my mom (or myself) has cooked for you will totally understand that this is just NEVER an option for our family. The schools do have a free and reduced lunch program, but some families just miss the cut off. The other thing is that the school lunch is not cheap! It is $1.75 per day. The way that the schools have it set up now it is like a credit card system. You just deposit money in the account and then it is debited out each time they enter there pin number. So, I put $50 bills into individual envelopes to help 14 kids. Mr. Zucal would then determine the kids who needed it the most. He wold deposit the money into there account as a "secret Santa" gift. He would then send a letter to the family explaining that there child has money in there account to be able to buy lunch or breakfast at school. So, here is Olivia and Owen holding the bag with the envelopes in it just before giving it to Mr. Zucal.
Kelly - What a wonderful idea. I agree no child should go hungry. Christmas is a time to help those in need, and your family did just that. "God Bless all the Fenton's".
ReplyDelete