Canfield”s in-school drive will benefit food bank

The fact that 17,000 Kootenai County residents live in poverty was a shocker to the students at Canfield Middle School. Students also couldn’t believe that the struggling families could get government assistance to help buy food to feed their families, but not necessities like toilet paper and shampoo.

Last week, students from Canfield filled boxes and boxes with bar soaps and laundry soaps, toilet paper and deodorants. The project was led by eighth-graders and most of the items were collected by the sixth-grade students they mentor.

Students filled a giant plastic tote more than halfway with donations for the We Personally Care Drive to benefit the local food bank. In all, 26 totes were filled with donations from throughout the community. Last year, only about a dozen totes were filled.

Jennifer Ross of Kootenai Electric Cooperative, a sponsor of the annual drive, said last year’s donations lasted an entire year. She said many other schools in Coeur d’Alene and the Lakeland School District helped pass out bags for donations, but Canfield was the only school she knew of that organized its own in-school drive.

Canfield’s eighth-grade mentors presented the idea to sixth-graders and also broadcast information about the drive on the school’s daily news broadcast.

“We don’t think about people that are needy a lot of the time,” said Karen Grace, a Canfield counselor. “We think everybody is in pretty good shape. It’s interesting for kids to get the facts.”

Disability awareness contest

Students wrote about friends with Down syndrome, grandparents with Alzheimer’s and a father with Parkinson’s disease for this year’s Disability Awareness Writing Contest, sponsored by the Coeur d’Alene School District.

Diana Gifford, director of special education for the district, said she was impressed by the diversity and poignancy of the entries submitted. Students wrote about everything from lupus to cerebral palsy to macular degeneration. Some researched disabilities and wrote reports. Others wrote from the heart, Gifford said.

About 180 students from throughout Kootenai County participated, up from 80 entries last year.

“The examined their own feelings about people that may appear different but really are more alike than they are different,” Gifford said.

Many of the essays will be published and bound into booklets to be distributed at local school libraries, the public libraries and the North Idaho College library. Winners were announced April 13 during Disability Awareness Days at North Idaho College.

Winners from the Coeur d’Alene School District include: Brooklyn Cunningham, kindergarten; Jessica Fortis and Kasey Widmyer, (tie) third grade; Paige Brown, fourth grade; Clinton Vilandre, fifth grade; Matthew Guthrie, eighth grade; Kris Anglin, ninth grade; Jamie Haines, 10th grade; and Max Lyons and Ryan Sullivan, (tie) 12th grade.

Kendal Yung of the Lakeland School District was the 11th-grade winner and Madeline Baker of Post Falls was the second-grade winner.

Rotary Student of the Month

Post Falls High senior K.C. Billetz was named February Student of the Month by Post Falls Rotary. K.C. is an award-winning athlete and honor student.

K.C. has lettered three years in basketball and track, two years in football and all four years for academics. He has 4.233 grade-point average and is involved in several clubs and activities at Post Falls High.

Lakeland students honored

Lakeland High School’s Students of the Month for March are Brittany Henry, Natalie Linna and Katie Douglas.

Brittany, a sophomore, enjoys drawing, hanging out with friends and spending time with family.

Natalie, a junior, enjoys swimming, horseback riding, salsa dancing, drama and hanging out with friends. She hopes to attend college and pursue a career in the medical field.

Katie, a senior, is a member of National Honor Society, Hawk Greeters and Idaho Drug Free Youth. Katie plays soccer, basketball and softball. She plans to attend North Idaho College to play soccer and study physical therapy.