Overview
Collecting canned goods for the local food pantry. Donating hats, mittens, coats and other items of warm clothing to families in need. Collecting pop tabs for Ronald McDonald House. Jumping Rope for Heart to raise funds for the American Heart Association. Writing letters to Santa to benefit the Make a Wish Foundation. Making blankets for Caring Connections.
Throughout the school year, District 58 students and staff participate in a wide variety of service projects to benefit organizations and individuals in our community and around the world. These projects not only make a big difference for those who receive the items and donations, they also cultivate a spirit of giving, civic responsibility, generosity and compassion in the next generation of leaders.
58 Doing Good was created to showcase for our community the wonderful service projects completed by District 58’s students, staff and schools, and to serve as a connector between organizations in need of help and classes/groups within District 58 who might be looking for a service project to complete.
We hope you enjoy reading about the hard work and generosity of our students and staff in service of their community, which will be featured in our Service Spotlight. Look for the leaf icon for opportunities to get involved or contribute to a cause or organization being supported by our students!
To submit a news item or photo(s) about a service project within District 58, e-mail details to jwaldorf@dg58.org.
If you are a part of (or know of) a service organization within District 58 who needs help with a particular project, such as a coat drive or book collection, please check out “We Need Help”.
If you are a District 58 teacher or club sponsor looking for a local organization to assist with a particular project, please check out “We Want to Help”.
We Need Help
Community organizations located in and around Downers Grove Grade School District 58 who are looking for a helping hand can e-mail contact information and details to District 58 Communications Coordinator Jennie Waldorf at jwaldorf@dg58.org. Please include We Need Help in the subject heading.
We Want to Help
District 58 classes and clubs seeking a service project idea can e-mail Communications Coordinator Jennifer Waldorf at jwaldorf@dg58.org.
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Service Spotlight
Belle Aire buddies make cards for veterans
 Jill Oakley’s third grade students and Heather Howland’s morning kindergarten students recently worked together to make Valentine’s Day cards for local veterans. The third grade and kindergarten students are buddies, and have been meeting every Friday to work on different projects. Recently, they decided to some good and make a veteran smile. All of the students really enjoyed working with their buddy to make cards.
Kingsley Taking Action is making a difference
A fifth-grade service club at Kingsley School called Kingsley Taking Action, which meets during lunch, has accomplished great things so far this year. In January, the club spent time feeding the hungry all over the world. A website called FreeRice.com will donate grains of rice to third world countries every time a person answers their trivia questions correctly. The fifth grade KTA members have been keeping track of the amount of rice they have donated, and so far it has been over 9,000 grains of rice! Others can help by visiting freerice.com and participating in the trivia. This month, KTA is making coloring books for children at the Comer Children's Hospital, which is located in Hyde Park. These books will be given to the hospital at the end of February. The club will also be donating books to The Painted Turtle, a camp in California for children with chronic medical conditions.
 You can help by visiting www.freerice.com and participating in the quiz!
Indian Trail trying to top last year's fundraiser
Indian Trail students have been busy collecting pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Not only is the school as a whole trying to top the more than $1,800 it raised last year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, but the class that donates the most money per student will win a lunch from Olive Garden of pasta, salad and breadsticks. The students will be collecting change in their classrooms through Friday, Feb. 24. Each Friday during the fundraiser, student council representatives have been collecting the change from the classroom boxes and bringing them to student council sponsor and fifth-grade teacher Sandy Leff for counting. Posters in the hallway are tracking the progress of the fundraiser.
For more about the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and how you can help, visit www.lls.org!
Herrick student raises funds for cancer research
Herrick Middle School eighth-grader Rowan Miller is making a difference for cancer research at Comer Children’s Hospital. Last year he held a March Madness bracket pool at school, with the winner receiving a small cash prize and the rest of the money – $800 – going to cancer research. Rowan's cousin used to do the brackets to collect money for Comer, and Rowan inherited the project once his cousin went to high school. Over the years, the two boys have raised more than $3,000 for cancer research. Rowan, whose grandfather was a cancer researcher and whose grandmother had a stem cell transplant at Comer several years ago, plans to do the brackets at Herrick again this year.
Puffer penny war benefits Wounded Warrior Project
The students at Henry Puffer School recently engaged in some friendly competition, and their Penny Wars fundraiser brought in a total of $892.40 for the Wounded Warriors Project. The student council chose this organization as the target for their fundraiser. The classes who brought in the most money--Carrie Edwards' second-grade in primary and Tim Fredrickson's sixth-grade class in intermediate--will receive a donut and milk party. Edwards' class raised $67.07, and Fredrickson's class raised $216.14.
To learn more about the Wounded Warrior Project and how you can help, visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org!
Lester, Belle Aire, El Sierra host 'Soup-er Bowl'
During the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Lester, Belle Aire and El Sierra schools all hosted a Soup-er Bowl canned goods drive. Students could bring in a can of soup or other food item and put it in the box of the team they think will win the Super Bowl. The canned goods were donated to various local charities, including the People's Resource Center and FISH pantry.
Fairmount sends care packages to soldiers
The Fairmount student council recently spo nsored an effort to collect games, sports equipment, snacks, toiletries, books, magazines, phone cards, and homemade letters and cards for soldiers who have been deployed overseas. Fairmount families and staff members generously answered the children’s call to support our troops, and the student council collected eight boxes of “goodies” to send off to the courageous men and women serving in the armed forces.
To find out more about Walk-In Ministry of Hope and how you can help, visit www.wimoh.org!
Lester kindergartners collect pop tabs
Three years ago, Lester kindergarten teacher Kathy Yee had her kindergartners start collecting pop tabs for Ronald McDonald House. She started it after her son had heart surgery, and it was her way to give back to Hope Children’s Hospital in hopes that they would build a Ronald McDonald House. Her current students and some of her former students, who are now in first, second and third grade, continue to collect pop tabs.
Anyone can spearhead a pop-tab collection for Ronald McDonald House! Visit http://rmhc.org/how-you-can-help/pop-tab-collections/ to learn more.
Fairmount Triple T tackles variety of service projects
A group of Fairmount School students, who have dub bed themselves Triple T, have completed a variety of service projects so far this school year. Led by Fairmount parent and Whittier reading specialist Christy Gergits, they raised money and went to Feed My Starving Children’s Aurora facility; participated in the CROP Walk; baked treats for the Downers Grove police and fire departments; collected toys for Toys for Tots; and most recently adopted fire hydrants for snow removal.
To learn more about Feed My Starving Children, which has a facility in Aurora, visit www.fmsc.org!
Indian Trail student has a heart for giving
Indian Trail fifth-grader Melissa Weidner has been making a big difference in the life of a family whose 10-month-old baby has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). She led a group of neighborhood children in a series of fundraising activities to benefit Make a Child  Smile, a not-for-profit that focused on supporting children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses and their families. A fun fair at the Weidners’ home this past summer brought in $225 for Make a Child Smile. After learning that the organization was no longer accepting financial donations, Melissa and her family brainstormed how they could use the fun fair proceeds to benefit another charity. Her father works with the founder of the Angel Baby Foundation, created to comfort and assist families affected by SMA, a degenerative disease of the cells located in the spinal cord. Through the Angel Baby Foundation, Melissa learned about a family who was hoping to get an iPad to help their 10- month-old daughter, Journee, who has SMA, communicate. They donated the fun fair proceeds towards this purchase, then learned that the baby’s mom needed a special carrier to compensate for the baby’s lack of neck strength. Within a week, Melissa’s class at Indian Trail had raised enough money to purchase the carrier, and her family matched the amount. To thank Melissa for her generosity and support, the Angel Baby Foundation recently presented her with their Giving Tree Award—and the baby herself recently paid visited her class at Indian Trail.
To learn more about how you can help the Angel Baby Foundation, visit www.angelbabyfoundation.org!
O'Neill movie screening benefits families in need
The O'Neill Middle School student council hosted an after-school movie viewing of "Elf" in December to raise funds for the school's Operation Santa Good Cause, which distributes Target gift cards to families in need within District 58.
Herrick decorates lunch bags, sells Candy Grams
During the month of December, the Herrick Middle School student council decorated lunch bags that were used for PADS lunches at one of the local churches. In addition, the student council sold Candy Grams, a note to a friend accompanied by a candy cane, for 25 cents apiece. The proceeds were donated to Autism Speaks Illinois.
For more information about Autism Speaks and how you can help, visit www.autismspeaks.org!
Whittier Holiday Hop benefits Make-a-Wish
Whittier School's student council hosted a Holiday Hop in December, which raised $239.60 for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and collected a total of 125 toys to donate to Toys for Tots!
For more information on the Make-a-Wish Foundation, visit www.wish.org. For more on Toys for Tots, visit www.toysfortots.org.
El Sierra completes variety of holiday projects
During the weeks leading up to winter break, El Sierra had a mitten tree up in the front hallway where students were asked to bring in hats, scarves, mittens, and board games. They collected more items than ever before, which helped bring joy and comfort to families in need this season. In addition, El Sierra third-grade teacher Diane Claver organized the Adopt a Family program where families could donate items to ensure other families would have a happy holiday season. The school also participated in the Macy's Dear Santa letter writing campaign where the store donated one dollar for each letter to the Make a Wish foundation. El Sierra raised nearly $300. Last but not least, in a fundraiser they dubbed “Jingle Jeans,” El Sierra staff paid $2 a day to wear jeans on the days leading up to winter break. This brought in a total of $185 for the Sharing Connections charity in Downers Grove!
Learn how you can help the Sharing Connections Furniture Bank by visiting www.sharingconnections.org!
Herrick Middle School makes cards for veterans
The Herrick Middle School student council recently set up a booth during lunch periods, where all students could stop by and make a card for a veteran using red, white and blue star stickers and flags. Sponsor Amy Kilner delivered more than 300 cards to the Edward Hines, Jr. VA hospital near Maywood.
For more information about the Hines VA Hospital, visit www.hines.va.gov and check out the Volunteers and Donations link.
Puffer mitten tree benefits FISH; bake sale raises funds for childrens' cancer research
For many years now, Henry Puffer School has had a gift-giving tradition at the holidays. Instead of purchasing gifts for teachers, the K-6 teachers request that such generosity be channeled in the form of a donation (hats, mittens, gloves, scarves, socks, etc.) to the Mitten Trees. This resulted in several large boxes being donated before the holidays to the FISH pantry. In addition, the school hosted a “Cookies for Kids Cancer” sale during the annual Santa Breakfast, which raised $153 for the cause.
Visit http://www.dgfish.org/ to find out how you can help the FISH pantry serve our local community!
 Hillcrest food drive benefits FISH
The Hillcrest student council organized a food drive in late November, resulting in approximately 1,500 food items being donated to the FISH food pantry. Brittany Cerny’s class was the intermediate winner and brought in 136 food items. Leslie Walker’s class was the primary winner with 183 food items. Congratulations to these great classes! The workers at the FISH pantry were so thankful for all the efforts from Hillcrest students.
Kingsley collects for Operation Support Our Troops
During the two weeks leading up to winter break, the Kingsley student council collected donations for troops stationed overseas. The student council sent out flyers asking each grade leve l to donate a certain item listed on the Operation Support Our Troops website. Some of the items collected were canned goods, hot chocolate, beef jerky, and crackers. Student council boxed the supplies up and they were delivered to the warehouse in Lisle, where they are boxed up and shipped overseas. "This was very successful and each classroom went above and beyond what we expected," said student council sponsor Deanna Jacobs.
For more information on Operation Support Our Troops, visit http://www.osotil.org/home.html!
Lester Winter Wiggle brings in donations
In conjunction with the annual Winter Wiggle at Lester School, students brought in toys to donate to Toys for Tots, as well as more than 400 cans and boxes of non-perishable food items that were donated to the People’s Resource Center (PRC) of DuPage County for their Westmont food pantry. The student council’s Penny Harvest raised nearly $1,100 to donate to the PRC for their Thanksgiving baskets. For just $20, PRC can provide a family with a full Thanksgiving meal. In the weeks leading up to the winter break, the student council also sponsored a Giving Tree. Students brought in new hats, mittens and gloves to hang on the holiday tree, and these warm items also were donated to the PRC. Students also wrote more than 150 letters to Santa for the Macy’s fundraiser for the Make a Wish Foundation. For every letter written to Santa, Macy’s donated $1 to the Make a Wish Foundation.
To learn more about the People’s Resource Center and how you can help, visit www.peoplesrc.org!
Fairmount fills Mitten Tree for Walk-In Ministry
During the holidays, Fairmount supported Make-A-Wish efforts through student writing, collected toys to enhance the holidays for others, and filled a Mitten Tree with hats, gloves, scarves, and mittens, to provide warmth for those who might otherwise go without. These items will be donated to the Walk-In Ministry of Hope. The teachers, in lieu of exchanging holiday gifts, made contributions to assist families in the Fairmount attendance area.
To find out more about Walk-In Ministry of Hope and how you can help, visit www.wimoh.org!
Pierce Downer holiday service auction benefits Feed My Starving Children, Open Arms Summer Camp
During their winter holiday party, the fifth-grade classes at Pierce Downer held their annual holiday service auction to raise money for charity. Each student was asked to bring in a gently used item to be sold at the auction, such as a book, toy or game. Students could bring up to $3 to be used in the auction, during which they bid in 25-cent increments. Students viewed the items prior to the auction, and bid on the items they wanted to purchase. Kelly DeMarco's class voted to donate the $110.27 they raised to Feed My Starving Children; Sue Murphy's class raised $87, which they used to sponsor four children with Open Arms Summer Camp. "The students enjoy watching the items come in all month, and the party is always a success. We follow auction format, complete with an auctioneer and paddles," DeMarco said.
To learn more about Feed My Starving Children and how you can help, visit www.fmsc.org!
To learn more about Open Arms Summer Camp, visit www.openarmsglenview.org!
Highland Giving Tree supports FISH pantry, toy drive benefits Humanitarian Service Project
The Highland School Student Council supported two local charities in order to help out the needy in our community this holiday season: the Highland School Giving Tree and Humanitarian Service Project Toy Drive. Through these service projects the families of Highland helped to make the holidays a little happier for those in need in our community. The Highland School Giving Tree collected warm mittens, gloves, scarves, and coats as well as new and used winter clothing. These items were donated to FISH, a local organization that helps those in need in Downers Grove, Westmont, Darien, Woodridge and Lisle. New toys were collected for the Humanitarian Service Project, a DuPage community service organization that reaches approximately 100 families living in poverty. They pack up Christmas boxes which include gifts for around 500 children living in the area. Highland School families donated several large bags and boxes of toys that were dropped off the first week of December in order to get to the needy children for the holidays.
To learn more about how you can help the Humanitarian Service Project, visit http://www.humanitarianservice.org!
 Pierce Downer food drive helps FISH
During the month of December, the Pierce Downer student council organized a school-wide food drive. Students in all classes were encouraged to donate nonperishable food items. Donated food was given to the Downers Grove Area FISH Food Pantry, which provides free food and a variety of emergency social services to those in need.
Click here to view more photos from this project!
Belle Aire penny harvest brings in change for FISH
Each day from November 14-18, student council members at Belle Aire School brought the harvest wagon to each classroom, and students contributed their spare change. The drive netted $568.27, half of which went to the FISH pantry in Downers Grove and half of which went to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Downers Grove, which hosted a Thanksgiving lunch.
To submit an item for the Service Spotlight, please e-mail details to jwaldorf@dg58.org!
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