The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

For several years the Little Cypress Intermediate and Little Cypress Elementary has held a diabetes awareness walk raising money for diabetes research. “With the diabetes walk what we had been doing was raising money and sending it to Houston for education and research,” said Kelly Meadow, LCI school nurse and organizer of the event.

“Looking at all the changes our community has experienced the last five years and the impact of the storms and the economy, we really decided we didn’t want to raise money and send it outside of our community, when our own families here needed help,” said Meadows.

They identified as many resources as possible that serve Orange County.

Forty-six organizations will be setting up at the 2nd annual Community Resource Walk and Blood Drive that will be held at the school Friday, March 9.

From those 46, seven were chosen to be the beneficiaries of the schools fundraising endeavors.

These seven regularly give aid and assistance to the students in the school district and their families.

Those charities are: Little Cypress Lions Club, Orange Christian Services, Salvation Army, Red Cross, Service League of Orange, Garth House and the Rainbow Room.

“We’ve asked the different organizations for their ‘wish list’ and we’re collecting items based on that,” said Meadows. They are also holding a blood drive. Last year they had 92 pints donated. This year there goal is 100.

“Students have been challenged at the elementary school,” said Meadows. “They are doing ‘Change for Charities.’ They’re competing by grade level to bring in the most money.” The money collected will be divided equally between the charities named. The winning class will receive an ice cream party from Blue Bell Ice Cream. At the intermediate school, each classroom has adopted a charity and has set goals as to how much to raise for that charity in items, money or sometimes both. “If they meet their goals, they are going to get to participate in a silly string war,” said Meadows. Last year, all the classes reached their goals.

At last year’s event they had over 1,250 people participating. This year they are shooting for 1,500. In a bygone era, the community would be allowed to join the school in participation. That is no longer possible. To protect students, campuses must be kept closed to only students, faculty and families.

Meadows wanted to find a way for the community to participate. Granger’s Chevrolet in Orange has partnered with the schools to be a community ‘donation station’ for cash and goods.

Donations will be collected at the dealership through noon on March 9. At that time the donations will be brought to the school to be distributed to the charities at the event.

Items requested for collection by the organizations are:non-perishable foods;personal care items (brushes, combs, tooth paste, tooth brushes, soap, shampoo, etc.);cleaning supplies;office supplies; individual snacks; new stuffed animals; and old prescription glasses.

There are also seven separate compartments for cash donations if someone wants to designate which organization gets their contribution.

For more information contact Kelly Meadows, LCI School nurse at 8864245 ext. 5; or contact Granger Chevrolet (877) 236-9167. The dealership is located 2611 MacArthur Drive in Orange.