Students raise funds for fire victims

Teghan Sweeney, left, Maddie Hutchison, Silas Parker, teacher Melissa Leisinger and Alysun Phillippe are raising money for families affected by the Evergreen Condos fire.  The students are members of Kingdom Christian Academy's student council.
Teghan Sweeney, left, Maddie Hutchison, Silas Parker, teacher Melissa Leisinger and Alysun Phillippe are raising money for families affected by the Evergreen Condos fire. The students are members of Kingdom Christian Academy's student council.

Members of Kingdom Christian Academy's student council were horrified as they watched the recent fire at Evergreen Condos unfold in the news.

"You don't expect something - a disaster - like this locally," eighth-grader Silas Parker said Monday. "It's kind of a shock when something like this happens in your community."

Once per month, the members of KCA's student council make a donation toward a charitable cause.

"Each month, they decide where they think is best suited," student council sponsor and fourth-grade teacher Melissa Leisinger said. "They look within the community first, then outside."

Past causes have included raising funds for hurricane victims at Wilmington Christian Academy in North Carolina, Adopt-a-Child at SERVE, Inc. and a food drive that received 633 pounds.

The fire's survivors seemed like a natural choice for this month. On Jan. 21, in the wee hours of the morning, a fire swept through the Evergreen Condos complex in Holts Summit. Every apartment was destroyed and about 30 families were left scrambling to pick up the pieces.

"What brought it up is, my dad's a firefighter and he helped battle that fire," fifth-grader Alysun Phillippe said. He said most of the families have found homes by now, but some are still struggling.

The students raise money by selling snacks at lunch time and allowing classmates to spend $2 for the privilege of wearing jeans and a T-shirt to lunch. Generally, the money is split evenly between that month's cause and funding events at the school. The students also seek out a matching donor for the money that will be donated.

"My church's choir did the matching donation last month, when we bought cakes for (local first responders)," Phillippe said.

The students are still looking for a matching donor for this month's donation, Leisinger said. Interested individuals can contact the KCA office at 573-642-2117.

KCA teacher Kat Burcham goes to Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, the Holts Summit church attended by many of the fire victims. The church housed victims in the immediate aftermath of the fire and members have been active in aiding survivors. She'll help coordinate getting the money to the survivors who need it.

"(At the end of the month) I am giving the gift card to a family who runs the church bus route - they pick up the (fire survivor) families each week that want to go to church and know them more personally than I do," Burcham said. " They will supply gift cards to the families that are still the most in need."

Student council members said they find value in the fundraising they conduct.

"My favorite was the food drive we did," sixth-grader Maddie Hutchison said. "The SERVE lady said it was the biggest donation they'd had all month."

Parker said he's learned life lessons from volunteering.

"You learn to think of other peoples' needs before your own and put in an effort," he said.