Student takes extra step to raise funds for damaged school

Proceeds from a school book fundraiser at Mt. Healthy Elementary School will be used to buy books for a school library affected by Hurricane Harvey.

The school’s All for Books program typically raises about $150 dollars through donations, but that has been doubled this year, said Karla Craig, Mt. Healthy library assistant. The All for Books program is sponsored by Scholastic, which matches monetary donations up to $1 million, providing books to different organizations across the country.

Craig said proceeds from the program in the past have been divided among Mt. Healthy teachers to allow them to purchase books they might need for their classrooms.

However, the school decided to raise money so books could be purchased for a school that was affected by Hurricane Harvey after letters were sent home with students. Craig said she planned to work with Mt. Healthy first-grade teacher Kim Smith to identify which school will receive the books.

Mt. Healthy raised a total of about $360, with $53 of that total being raised by a fifth-grade student, Shaylie Fouts. Fouts sold ice pops and lemonade with two of her friends, Reagan Babb and Millie Stagnolia, who attend fifth-grade at Southside Elementary School.

Fouts, 10, said the group held signs letting people know about their effort to raise money, although many individuals who were walking in the area went home to get money and then came back to make a contribution. The girls’ parents each contributed $5 each as well, Fouts added.

Fouts also called on her fellow classmates to recognize the importance of helping others.

“It’s not that hard to give back,” she said. “It makes you feel good, so we want others to feel good.”

Craig said she was proud of Fouts’ efforts to step up, but Fouts said the effort to raise money involves many people. Fouts also said she and her friends didn’t think about keeping any of the proceeds they raised.

“We all just work together,” Fouts said. “We just felt so good that we donated all of it.”