Students help community with Project Care initiative

As part of the "Project Care" initiative, the LCMS Junior Beta Club collected 1,345 cans of food for the Lincoln County Food Pantry. Pictured with some of the canned goods are: (front row, l-r) Ben Turner; Tyler Tutt; Andy Ray Wengrow; Cole Mattison; Trevor Cole; Bentley Beggs; (back row) Tonya Burt, beta club advisor; and Hattie Norman, Carrie Parker, Travis Reid, and Naomi Cobb, representing the food pantry.

The 2007 edition of LCMS's "Project Care" was a resounding success!

The goal of the annual initiative is to reach out to the needy in the community by collecting food for the Lincoln County Food Pantry and raising funds to purchase Christmas gifts for local children.

To collect items for the food pantry, the LCMS Junior Beta Club asked middle school students to help build a Christmas tree in the school lobby using cans of food. When all was said and done, the tree boasted 1,345 cans of green beans, pineapple, spaghetti, corn, peas, etc.

To give the students an added incentive, it was announced that the class donating the most cans and/or money to the food pantry would receive a pizza party. The winner was Susan Pilgrim's homeroom class, which collected a total of 509 cans.

The Junior Beta Club also sponsored an "Angel Tree" to help provide Christmas gifts for children who, through no fault of their own, might not receive any presents from Santa Claus.

In order to reach its goal of $350, the club held a contest involving school administrators and teachers. For each $1 donation, a paper angel, representing the administrator or teacher of the student's choice, was placed on the Angel Tree.

Contest rules stipulated that the person who accumulated the most angels would have to come to school the Wednesday before Christmas break dressed as Mrs. Santa Claus. Moreover, if the beta club reached its $350 goal, this same individual would be required to stand on the stage in the cafeteria at lunch and sing Christmas carols.

An amazing total of $575 was donated to children in need, and Coach Billy Kirby was awarded the unparalleled honor of being Mrs. Santa Claus for the day.

And the fun didn't end there - because the students reached their goal, they were allowed to gather outside the school and throw buckets of "slime" on Coach Kirby and teachers Patty Arthur, Tonya Burt, and Stacey Radford.

The students were so amused by the sight, they are already making plans for December of 2008.

According to Tonya Burt, Junior Beta Club advisor, the students had a wonderful time collecting money for the Angel Tree. "They knew they were playing a part in making this a Christmas to remember for children right here in Lincoln County."

In other comments, she thanked the members of the Junior Beta Club, the Sixth-Grade Class, Principal Pam Carmichael, and Coach Kirby, whom she described as a "very good sport," for making Project Care a success. She also expressed her appreciation to the students, faculty, and staff at LCMS for making donations to the food pantry and the Angel Tree.

In closing, Burt said, "Lincoln County has some fine, young citizens it can be very proud of. These students worked hard to make a significant contribution to our community through Project Care. They did a fantastic job."

Serving as assistant advisors for the Junior Beta Club are Stacey Radford and Patty Arthur.