Madison Comprehensive High School held their annual “Merry Madison Christmas” this week,and Principal Rob Peterson explained that it is a long standing tradition at Madison. “Merry Madison Christmas” includes collecting donations from throughut the school district for families in need during the holiday season.
Holly North and Tracey Burden are coordinators for the event. North teaches high school business management technology and Burden teaches math courses in pre-calculus and honors pre-calculus at the high school.
“Tracey and I took over the planning of this event about eight or nine years ago. This year, we have nine families that we are helping out. Within those nine families, there are 28 children. The families are from the entire school district and the high school performs the fundraising for the families,” said North.
North shared that a number of different groups donate to the “Merry Madison Christmas” fund. “Groups that adopted families include student council, SkillsUSA, Business Professionals of America (BPA), OCC Leadership, the Madison Rams boy’s basketball team, the office staff, and all of Mrs. Knowlton’s classes. We also have a lot of our staff make donations towards the fund,” said North.
North added that food, gifts, and gift cards will be purchased for the families. The Family and Consumer Science classes will make about 150 dozen cookies and the OCC Leadership collected hats and mittens for the families. The Key Club organized a Penny Battle to collect funds towards grocery gift cards.
Additionally, the Science Club sold candy canes as Candy-O-Grams for 25 cents and the Electricity Program collected batteries to donate to families. The Spanish Club also collected board games.
“We are holding a Food Drive and we will divide the amount we collect between the families and each family will be receiving a turkey this year,” said North.
“The class that collects the most for the Penny Drive is rewarded with a breakfast and the same goes for the Food Drive. We want to give them a reward for their hard work that they put in to making this fundraiser a success,” said North.
The gifts are all wrapped and delivered to the families. “The gifts can be delivered to the families at different times. The students respond so well to this fundraiser. They know they are doing something to help those out in need,” said North.
Madison South Elementary School also gave back to the community during the holidays. The student council at Madison South helps organize a hat and mitten Christmas tree.
“The student council takes donations of hats and mittens and gives them to people in need. This school does a wonderful job with giving back to the community,” said Principal of Madison South Elementary School Chris Scholl.
“This school does a wonderful job with giving back to the community,” said Principal of Madison South Elementary School Chris Scholl.
