Chukker Creek students fundraise through acts of kindness

Stephanie Hill, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·2 min read

Oct. 10—Chukker Creek students recently participated in a different type of fundraiser.

Instead of selling something, the students were encouraged to fundraise acts of kindness, said PTO President Jackie Harty. The kids registered online and put in email addresses of family and friends to see if they would like to make a donation.

"They email it out with a list of acts of kindness they're planning on doing and whether they get money or not, they can do acts of kindness in the community as a way of giving back and forwarding it for other people to enjoy," Harty said.

The theme of the fundraiser was "Light Up the World with Kindness," said Harty. That meant there were different LED items for the kids to get, including bracelets, rings, bouncy balls, glasses and a beach ball as the big prize.

In the cafeteria is the Wall of Kindness that has the names of students who participated and some included the different acts of kindness they had completed.

"Some kids were collecting toilet paper for the Child Advocacy Center, they've been making bags for blessing boxes," Harty said. "Some kids have been leaving out water bottles for mail carriers, we've had them leaving notes to their siblings, helping collect toys out of the toy room and donating extra toys, just things that. It not only helps at home because as a parent you really don't want so much stuff in your house, but the whole community is benefited."

The fundraiser was done through Raise Craze because the school will get 90% of the profits, Harty said. The school had a goal to raise $20,000, and when the fundraiser ended on Oct. 7, the school raised $21,373 and recorded 2,216 acts of kindness.

The money raised will go toward several projects the PTO is working on, Harty said.

"It's just general PTO funds, so it's our literacy and math programs that we pay for here, we're working on getting new classroom furniture for our second grade classes, our first grade classes, and our kindergarten classes, possibly pre-k too. We are also working on a brand new play structure for the first grade playground," Harty said.

"I'm really happy that this worked out," she added. "Who would've thought that you didn't have to sell junk and you could still raise this kind of money."