Arlee honor students supply stuffed animals to emergency responders
Karen Peterson photo
Arlee National Honor Society delivers stuffed animals to the Arlee Volunteer Fire Department.
Karen Peterson photo
High School National Honor Society students Alexis Shick, Josh Reed and Zane Ligas work at sorting the stuffed animals to make it easier for emergency responders to carry them in their vehicles and distribute to children.
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ARLEE – Students from Arlee High School’s National Honor Society collected 261 stuffed bears, bunnies and creatures to give kids something to hold on to in times of crises.
The Flathead Tribal Police Department, Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Arlee Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Department accepted the task of handing those stuffed animals to kids.
Flathead Tribal Police Department Corporal Brian Fyant said his department has given stuffed animals to kids in the past. He noted that it was good to have their supply replenished by the Honor Society.
“We use them to comfort a kid for whatever reason: when a parent is being arrested or they witness something traumatic,” he said.
Nate Lundeen, School Resource Officer for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, said he planned to hand out the bags of stuffed animals to officers in his department so they can “keep a few in their vehicles to give to kids.”
The Arlee Fire and Ambulance Department plans to put stuffed animals in their emergency vehicles.
“This is the first time we’ve done this,” volunteer Dane Morigeau said. “We usually do baby quilts, but this helps.”
Honor Society members said the idea for the service project was sparked by the kindness seen in others.
“We knew that Ronan police did this,” sophomore Shaylee Perry, said. “We thought it would be a good way to help.”
The Honor Society created a competition between the different grade levels grouped by buildings in their school as an incentive to encourage people to donate stuffed animals to their project.
The kindergarteners, first and second grade groups brought in the most stuffed animals. For winning the contest, they’ll be getting rootbeer floats.
The Honor Society is a collection of students who have high grade point averages, minds towards service projects and possess leadership skills.
“We are an organization helping our community by doing community service projects,” Senior Nichole Rang said.
A couple of other service projects include after school tutoring and delivering food to kids that need it.
Isaac Desjarlais, sophomore, described the group as “straight up awesomeness,” which they explained comes from wanting to do great things because they said “it gives you a sense of pride.”
Inspiration, they noted, comes from their parents and Arlee teacher Anna Baldwin, the Montana Teacher of the Year.
“She is our role model,” they said.
The National Honor Society includes Isaac Desjarlais, Zach Felsman, Eula Fullerton, Parker Holz, Jess Knoll, Zane Ligas, Shaylee Perry, Nichole Rang, Kaylee Samsel, Alexis Shick, Megan Shick, Josh Reed and Megan Reed.
