The recent altruistic effort of Eagle River Secondary Grade 12 students will not hinder dry grad celebrations in anyway.
Earlier this month, the grad class undertook a fundraiser bottle drive to help Kara Wagner, who had lost her family and home in a fire. The students raised more than $3,000, all of which was donated.
School principal Scott Anderson says the students were energized by the result of their work and how they were able to contribute to the overall fundraising effort going on in the community for Wagner.
"It's been such a positive community response to this, and I know the kids themselves are upbeat," says Anderson. "It's almost electrified them; it was such a positive experience and they did so well, their enthusiasm has even gone up."
Teacher and grad sponsor Kyla Hadden concurs, noting it was the students' decision to turn the bottle drive into a fundraiser for Wagner instead their end-of-school year dry grad celebrations.
"They had this bottle drive already planned as a fundraiser, but when the fire happened over the break, right away they were Facebooking me, saying we think we should donate the money from the bottle drive to this fund," says Hadden.
Asked what shape that leaves the students in for dry grad, Hadden says they've already fundraised more than enough.
"We do a grad auction in the fall and they raised $9,000 at the auction so they're in good shape," says Hadden.
To date, more than $15,000 has been raised through the Support Kara Wagner page on Facebook. Funds are also being raised for Wagner in trust accounts at the TD Bank and Salmon Arm Savings and Credit Union.