Brechbill’s class celebrates 20th year of ‘Christmas Cheer’
Lori Brechbill’s 5th grade class at Aurora Elementary School recently celebrated the end of this year’s ‘Christmas Cheer’ class project in which the students raised $556 for local charitable causes.
The celebration on the final day of this year’s activity, Jan. 25, also marked 20 years that Brechbill has been leading classes through the holiday project.
Brechbill says she originally created the activity as a way to encourage her students to get involved in raising money and volunteering for good causes.
“Anybody who knows me, knows that I am a giver,” Brechbill stated. “Giving is very, very important to me and I wanted to instill that into my students.”
While this is Brechbill’s first year as a 5th grade teacher, the idea of Christmas Cheer struck her when she was on her fifth year as a 4th grade teacher in Aurora.
“I was thinking, ‘How can I do that?’” she explained. “I thought of donations, but then I thought ‘You know, not a lot of kids can just up and donate.’ So I thought, ‘What if they had to do work at home in order to come up with some money from their chores?’”
The students began the project after Thanksgiving break and continued to raise money until the beginning of the Christmas break.
The money donated goes to help local families in need and to Aurora Adopt-A-Pet, but Brechbill said the biggest impact is on the students themselves.
“It’s the importance of being a giver, being a donator by working and earning something,” she said. “Also, I liked the fact that it really helped the parents, too.”
During the concluding celebration, students talked about their experience.
“I did chores around the house like walking my dogs and taking out the trash,” Grayden Fink said.
“I raised money helping my mom and babysitting my brothers,” Brennyn Mickey commented.
To keep track of the growing totals during the month, Brechbill incorporated the donations into a daily math problem for her students.
“We would add up all of our dollar bills,” she said. “All of our fives, all of our ones, quarters, dimes, nickels and then we would subtract what we made from the class total.”
“We’ve always purchased gifts for families in need,” the teacher explained. “I would never find out names of families that we had and I never want to know who they are. It was always a “G” or “B” kid. This year, we had four 4-year-old little boys. I find out from the school counselor or from somebody within the school who’s struggling and who could really use an extra ‘Santa hand.’”
In addition to raising money for other kids in need, the class also pitches ideas for gifts that could bring joy to the families’ Christmas.
“The kids would give me a list of gifts to get the kids so I don’t go out and randomly buy things,” she stated. “I specifically look at the lists they give me.”
This year Brechbill’s daughter, Cassidy and her boyfriend, Jack, got involved in the giving as well.
“They actually called me and asked me ‘Mom, are you still going do the fundraising thing this year since you got moved up to fifth grade?”, Brechbill explained. “I’m like, ‘You know what, this will be my 20th year I’ve been doing it,’ and they said ‘Well, we want two kids.’”
Cassidy and Jack’s donation amounted to $120, increasing the total to $361 spent for gifts for children. The remaining $315 was spent to buy extra supplies and treats for the animals at Aurora Adopt-A-Pet. The combined donation surpassed the class’s original goal of $375.
“It feels really good knowing that my kids made a difference and helped out with a family, two families or three families,” Brecbill commented. “It’s just great every year and it just makes that holiday season so much better.”
“This activity is important because we learned to work hard, budget and use money in a non-careless way,” class member Lacey Goodrich commented.
“We are making little children happy and helping little critters,” Ethan Johnson stated.
“Some families don’t have enough money to buy presents and we wanted the kids and the critters to be happy,” Chancylor Scott said.
Helping to end this year’s Christmas Cheer project on a high note, volunteers from Adopt-A-Pet met with the students late Thursday morning and brought Mimsy, a 5-month-old kitten, as an expression of thanks and to talk about how much the donation means to the animal shelter.
Kathy Pauler told the students how the humane society has been taking care of the animals, described the recent TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) project, and told how students can become volunteers at Adopt-A-Pet.
“We’re always looking for volunteers,” Pauler told the students. “A lot of us are getting really old and we need some young people in there.”
Looking back on two decades of Christmas Cheer with her students, Brechbill said her favorite part is hearing how it impacted the students even years later.
“My former students remember this activity and talk very fondly about it,” Brechbill commented. “It makes beautiful memories for everyone involved—giving and receiving.”