Charlevoix students go toy shopping after raising $20,000 for Community Christmas Project
CHARLEVOIX — The students at Charlevoix Elementary School get to learn a lesson in giving back this holiday season after raising $20,000 to buy toys for kids in need.
Second grade students visited the Walmart in Petoskey on Monday for the annual shopping spree.
“They’re incredibly excited," said Chris Isch, second grade teacher at Charlevoix Elementary School. "Most of the kids in the elementary have actually done this trip — everyone gets to take the trip in second grade, so everyone in the building knows how special it is. Everyone is excited to contribute.”
In addition to the $20,000 in funds raised, the students at the elementary school brought in 550 toys on their own to give back to the community.
“The kids in second grade, the big lesson here is that this year it’s not about them, it’s about other people," Isch said. "The opportunity to actually give instead of get is something we’re really excited to teach and the kids are really excited to go in there and really put that to good use. We’re focused in on empathy at school, so they’re going out and using that big ‘empathy' word to go out and shop for kids."
Isch said the money was raised through local businesses, families and anyone else who has heard about the event. Even after the students arrived at the store, someone asked if they were accepting donations and handed them money right then and there.
Second graders Sage Linne, Luke Malewitz and Harvey Thompson all spoke about how excited they were to get to shop for toys.
Thompson said he was excited and thought the shopping was awesome "because you get to shop for kids and you can buy almost anything you want."
"It's awesome," Malewitz added, and said he would tell his siblings about the event.
Ericka Mitchell, teacher at Charlevoix Elementary School, said the $20,000 is the most the school has ever brought in for the event.
"It's the best day, it's our favorite day," Mitchell said. "It's so much fun. It's such a cool opportunity because you can just see on their hearts and in their faces that they just want to get to give back and they're shopping knowing that a kid's going to love this on Christmas."
The project is set up through the Charlevoix Community Christmas Project, and Charlevoix Elementary School takes charge of the toys. The project is run community-wide.
More: Charlevoix Community Christmas Project fills need more than ever
Subscribe: Get unlimited access to the news about your community
David Mitchell, Walmart store manager, said this is one of his and his associates' favorite days of the year. He said seeing the program grow year after year brings its own excitement.
"It's just awesome, just awesome what these kids do year-round to raise this money, to take care of the other kids in their community. It's very heartwarming to say the least," he said.
David Grindle, Walmart store lead, said seeing the looks on the kids' faces was heartwarming to him.
"Just seeing the excitement on the kids' faces — to not be getting toys, but to be giving toys to other children — it's really heartwarming. It's awesome," Grindle said.
— Contact reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Second graders buy toys for Charlevoix Community Christmas Project
