Schools often receive donations from the community, but one Spokane Valley church recently made a donation to North Pines Middle School that won’t be forgotten any time soon.

Intersection Church, 905 N. McDonald St., held a dinner and auction, “Heart and Hope,” on Feb. 11. The event raised $9,758.94 and a member of the church stepped up to make the donation an even $10,000.

“I’ve been in education 35 years and I have never experienced anything like this,” said Principal Gordon Grassi.

In fact, when the donation amount was announced at Monday’s Central Valley school board meeting, there was an audible gasp from the audience.

North Pines is a low-income school – nearly 70 percent of its students qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches. Marsha and Dale Maurer, outreach and connection pastors at the church, learned this and decided to help the staff and students. They started by helping buy school supplies at the beginning of the school year.

Marsha Maurer said the church is always looking for ways to help out in their community. Their office at Intersection is full of toys, school supplies, coats and backpacks for local children. Members visit the nearby Brookstone Apartments for a Christmas Tree of Sharing and will soon host an Easter egg hunt for the children of the apartment complex.

“Our church is amazing,” Maurer said. “They’re such givers.”

At North Pines, they knew some of the children that attend the school because some of them attend Intersection as well.

“We chose North Pines because we have gotten to know some of their kids, through their attendance at our Wednesday night kids programs and youth group at the Intersection and we wanted to find a way to connect at another level,” Maurer said.

They decided to hold the auction and dinner. They sought out donations from church members and local businesses. Kohl’s department store donated $500 to their cause and pledged three volunteers to work at the event. They actually sent seven. Church member Robyn McClain whipped up lasagna for 200 people.

Items up for auction included kitchen gadgets, golf packages, beauty supplies, artwork, bikes and an autographed basketball from John Stockton. When they asked church members to donate items, they were astonished by the outpouring of items.

“People just wanted to give,” Maurer said. “Every time I think our church is maxed out, they give more.”

Grassi said the school was overwhelmed by the church’s generosity. Students signed a thank-you banner which now hangs right outside the sanctuary. They also made a video for the church and Grassi visited the congregation to screen it.

The principal said he is humbled and honored by the donation and finds it hard to express his gratitude with words. He said during the dinner and auction, the church invited staff and their spouses and took time out to recognize and thank the staff for what they do every day to educate students.

He said the last five years or so have been difficult for people who work in education because of tough economic times and budget cuts from the state. A donation like this will help the school a lot.

The school hasn’t decided what to do with the funds just yet, but Grassi said his leadership team will come up with ideas.

“We hope to maximize every dollar and use it in the best way possible,” he said.