Students and staff at Plymouth Scholars held a fundraiser in which they brought in a new box of colored pencils, markers, coloring books, or sketch pads. All items were donated to the University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital.
Jade Morrison, kindergarten teacher at Plymouth Scholars, had the idea for the fundraiser while she was watching the news. She saw a story of a little girl who was collecting crayons to be donated to a local hospital.
“I had no clue until that story that any crayon, marker, etc., that is opened by a patient cannot be shared with other patients due to germs,” said Morrison. “They are either thrown out or the patient takes them home. So, hospitals go through lots of those items daily. This year my class was in charge of leading morning assembly for a week with the focus on compassion and I remembered that news clip I saw and thought it would be a fun fundraiser.”
Morrison chose the University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital because she wanted a hospital that is near Plymouth Scholars families. Also, since it is such a huge hospital, Morrison thought they would go through lots of those items daily.
“We are always looking for ways to give back to the community,” said Morrison. “We talk monthly about the Moral Focus virtues and try to find ways that the school can come together to make a difference to those around us.”
Plymouth Scholars collected a total of 100 boxes of crayons, 128 boxes of colored pencils, 100 boxes of markers, and 122 coloring books and sketch pads.
With the success from this year, Morrison plans on doing this again next year for another hospital in their community.