Mission students roll out holiday donations
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
ST. IGNATIUS — Never has so much toilet paper been seen at the Mission School. And no, students weren’t vandalizing the halls.
St. Ignatius middle-schoolers collected 2,528 rolls of toilet paper last week to donate to local food banks, Orange Acres in Arlee and homeless shelters in Missoula.
The idea came from a trip that teacher Valerie Umphrey’s class took to the Poverello Center in Missoula last month, where students learned that while people donate food, clothing and other supplies to help the homeless, basic items are often neglected.
“Where they really come up short is toilet paper, because no one donates that,” Umphrey said.
In fact, it’s the most-needed item this holiday season at the Poverello Center, so the students decided to do their part to help. After hearing the students’ idea, student council advisor Richard Martin helped put together a weeklong toilet paper drive to foster competition among the sixth, seventh and eighth grades. The class to bring in the most toilet paper would win an ice cream party, and to the eighth-graders’ delight, their class wiped out the competition with a grand total of 1,055 rolls of toilet paper. Seventh-graders brought in 941 rolls, and sixth grade had 532.