Monday, March 18, 2024

Frisbee for Hope fundraiser raises money for Liberian college student

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A recent fundraiser at Cascade High School raised enough money to fund an African college student for the next year. The Frisbee for Hope fundraiser was held May 30 at CHS. 

“It was a joint fundraiser between Cascade High School’s ASB and our 10th grade AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) class. We worked together to put on a fundraiser to raise money through the Hope Project. There is recent graduate from the Hope Project by the name of Smith Smah. He’s in his third year of college in Liberia,” said Malia Renner-Singer, AVID teacher. “Liberia is the fourth poorest country in the world. For $1,000, we could pay for one year of college for him. Our goal was to raise $1,000.”

In 10th grade AVID, Renner-Singer said they focus on doing community service by way of a community service project. Last year, they did a field day at Peshastin-Dryden Elementary. Renner-Singer saw a Jackie Frasier’s Facebook post about the Hope Project needing to raise money for college tuition for Smith. 

Jackie son, Elijah, who is from Liberia, paid Smith’s tuition last year. 

“I brought this to my class in September and said this would be something really cool for us. Most of the AVID students will be first generation college students,” Renner-Singer said. “They empathized a lot with Smith and loved the idea of sending somebody to college because that what we talk about so much in AVID. We had some fundraising ideas, but nothing ever happened. We gave up for awhile.”

One of Renner-Singer’s AVID students approached the ASB, which was looking for a community service project benefitting something outside of Leavenworth. The Hope Project fundraiser fit in nicely. 

Senior Olivia Stoddard came up with the idea for the Frisbee for Hope fundraiser. Stoddard sold bracelets for $5 to participate in the ultimate frisbee tournament. For $5, you could also watch the tournament. 

“Basically, it was the last half of the day on Tuesday. If you had a bracelet, you got excused from third and fourth period class and you could come out to cheer on the teams,” she said. “In addition, my AVID class sold snow cones, because it was hot out.”

Renner-Singer said they raised well over $1,000. Bracelet sales alone raised $650. There were also donations from community businesses for the winning teams, from Munchen Haus, Hat Shop Wood Shop and The Hunter’s Wife. Safeway donated the concessions. 

“My students asked for donations and shopped for concessions. Olivia did all the work with the administrators, selling tickets. It was a really good collaboration between the ASB and AVID. The whole entire Cascade student body is funding this young man’s dream, which is really cool,” Renner-Singer said. 

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.

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