Pennies for presents

Times Reporter

 

Earlier this year, Strathmore gained its first Boys and Girls Club, BGC. Since its inception in the area, the club has been an active member in the community, helping out where they can. 

“Part of the leadership program is community service, so this was just one of the projects they’ve been working on,” said Shannon Zieman, chair of the Strathmore BGC.

The BGC did a food drive for the Wheatland Food Bank in the summer. During the Kitz 4 Kidz campaign they washed cars to help raise money and buy school supplies, and currently are collecting coats for the community coats program. 

The Torch leadership group recently held a collection drive in their community called ‘Pennies for Presents.’ For three weeks kids in the BGC Torch program, aged 10-13, have been collecting pennies. 

“They took coffee cans and they went around within the community that they live in and collected pennies,” said Zieman 

“Then we went to Walmart and bought all the stuff.” 

They managed to raise $255.25 which they took with them to Walmart on Dec. 8, where they went shopping. The kids had the chance to wander through the toy section and pick out gifts to give to the Christmas Hamper Society.  

There is a bin for the Christmas Hamper Society located in Walmart, so as soon as the kids were done having their purchases rung through, they dropped the gifts off into the bin. It’s the donations from the community during the holiday season, which helps keep the society running and helping those in need.  The BGC meets once a week at the ReMax office and they are always looking for new members.