Manor Heights Jaguars are committed to continuing to make a positive difference in their community. The “Jumping Jaguars” are known for their tradition of coming together each year to support Special Olympics Wyoming in their annual Jackalope Jump. Last year, they received the award for the most jumpers while donating $15,000 to Special Olympics Wyoming.
While the school community is excitedly anticipating their next Jackalope Jump, they wanted to come up with other ways to give back to the community throughout the year. After a bit of research, two other agencies stood out for their dedication to supporting students the Wyoming Food For Thought Project and the Unaccompanied Student Initiative.
Recently, Manor Heights students, staff, and school families kicked off their service efforts by holding their first-ever Food Drive supporting Wyoming Food For Thought. As a collective school team, they raised over 2,500 pounds of food for the organization. Wyoming Food for Thought Project is a local non-profit organization dedicated to combating childhood hunger within our community. The Food for Thought Food Bag Program is a year-round program that provides children with breakfast, lunch, and dinner items for every day they are out of school.
The student excitement was contagious throughout the food drive, with students eager to continue adding to the lines of food collecting in the hallways. Mr. Vondra, who played a key role in hosting and organizing the event, was thrilled to see the student impact and excitement, “Giving back to the community is a great way to spread awareness while at the same time bringing our school closer together. A teacher's job is to make students feel safe and to give them the skills they need to be successful, contributing adults. Our students are learning so many important life skills when participating in events like these; they might not even be aware of it until they are out of school and making a difference in their community. Manor Heights students really come together to help others, it is such a heartwarming feeling, and I couldn’t be more proud of the families we have here. ”
We had a chance to visit with some Jaguars who reflected on the excitement of the event and the fun they had knowing they were making a difference in the community:
"We collected food because some people don't have enough money so, we are donating food for them. It's important to donate because it is nice" ~ Boston, 2nd grade
"It is important to donate food so more people can live. It made me feel good to donate because I know I am helping people." ~ Christopher, 3rd grade
"I like the feeling when I know I am helping people. I feel glad that I get to donate to others." ~Boston, 5th grade
Manor Heights Elementary is committed to working together as a learning community of students, families, and staff to achieve high levels of learning for all students so they will succeed in school and in life!
Check back later this year as we share stories on the Jackalope Jump and fundraising for the Unaccompanied Student Initiative.