Giving, serving spirit drives Fairyland
Fairyland School may be small in size, but is filled to the brim with big, loving hearts.
There have been a few successful food and toy drives lately in which Fairyland School as a whole has stepped up to the plate and supported the community in big ways. The student council led a food drive to support more than 15 families in the school with nonperishable groceries, plus eight boxes left over for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.
The Walker County Sheriff’s Department does the Stocking Full of Love toy drive and 15 large boxes of new toys were collected. Thanks goes out to all the generous hearts of the Fairyland families, plus student council, Fairyland staff members and the Walker County Sheriff’s Department for coordinating the means of giving.
A few individual students have recently reached out to the community with causes dear to their hearts, yielding incredible results. Fourth-grader Lilly Landis contacted McKamey animal shelter, wanting to start a pet supply drive to help the animals have a merry Christmas. After writing a piece about it in the weekly fourth-grade Kaleidoscope newspaper, the school family rallied around her project and she was able to take a large wagonload of treats, food, toys and supplies to Mckamey over the break.
Stirred to action by seeing children working when she’d go visit a family every year in Guatemala, third-grader Irie Johnson, with help of family and friends, started a GoFundMe project called “Irie Love,” providing care packages for working children in Guatemala, containing a toothbrush, toothpaste, healthy snack and a stuffed animal. The initial goal on the GoFundMe page has been reached, and many kids will feel the blessing of her efforts and compassion.
Way to go, Lilly and Irie! Enough can’t be said about the giving, volunteering spirit thriving at Fairyland without mentioning the library helpers program. A long-standing opportunity for Fairyland fourth- and fifth-graders, students fill out a job application and help one recess every other week. Some of their activities include checking out younger students, helping them with book selection, iPad maintenance, book fair and Seuss Day preparations. From dressing up as pirates to checking out kindergarteners to rehearsing and pulling off fun announcements as Clifford during our book fair, these kids do it all eagerly. The librarian is beyond thankful for their invaluable help in countless ways.
Other capacities that the older students serve at the school include but aren’t limited to: safety patrol, student council, and weekly paper recycling.
Every one of these means of service is priceless to the school family — thank you, students!