Pierceton Elementary Celebrates ‘Socktober’ With Fundraiser
Pierceton Elementary Celebrates ‘Socktober’ With Fundraiser
Posted
Staff Report-
Pierceton Elementary Celebrates ‘Socktober’ With FundraiserPIERCETON – October represents a time of fun, games and traditional Halloween celebrations, and at Pierceton Elementary students are adding one more element of excitement. They call it Socktober.
Students from Anne Clark’s and Jasmine Baum’s fourth-grade classrooms initially decided to participate in Socktober after watching a video by the renowned “Kid President” on YouTube, according to a news release from Whitko Community Schools.
“We had Tracey Barr speak to us from Shepherd’s House in Fort Wayne. She told us that there was a need to build more facilities for the women who serve our country. We also watched a Kid President video about Socktober. We put them together, and committed to raise money for The Shepherd’s House,” said Clark.
As is the namesake of Socktober, the students are raising funds and donating men’s socks for the homeless veterans of The Shepherd’s House in Fort Wayne. Baum’s class is responsible for collecting the socks while Clark’s class will be in charge of donations.
To make it all happen, the students will canvas their neighborhood in Pierceton by working with area businesses, which will host donation canisters. The canisters have been decorated by the students and each canister, according to the student’s research, is capable of raising $40 to $60 over the course of a month. However, they will only be participating in the fundraiser for three weeks. They have set a goal as a class to raise $500, the release states.
Along with 24 canisters placed around the Pierceton community, students are also encouraging their classmates to bring in money and socks as a part of Socktober. As a special assignment, three students have been working on creating the press and media releases to help advertise for the fundraiser. Crew Ebbinghouse, Reagan Klepinger and one student who requested to remain anonymous have been working behind the scenes.
Ebbinghouse commented that he felt as a group, they had “a lot of work done and that we are putting a lot of effort into this project.”
They also interviewed several of their classmates.
“I feel good about Socktober because we get to donate money to the homeless veterans around Indiana,” said Willow Osborn.
Student Julia Elder said, “I am happy to do Socktober but it is sad to see the homeless people who are in need.”
Principal Mike McClain was in full support of the event. He said, “I think it’s an awesome thing when caring kids and their caring community can come together to help out heroes who are now in need.”
The schoolwide effort will end Oct. 31. Patrons at local establishments can begin donating Oct. 11. The students will take a field trip during the school day to personally deliver each canister for collections, the release states.
