Even with another wave of beautiful fall weather on Nov. 5, the annual Elk Pride Craft Bazaar was a big success.
“A steady stream of shoppers made for a great day for our 90-plus vendors,” event organizers Barb Ramsdell and Julie Peterson stated in a press release.
ProStart students sold over 950 cookies, with proceeds going towards their ProStart activities and competitions.
One group of students sold their items for the Elk Buddies Program. Crafts for a Cause is organized and run buy the Elk River DECA students to help fundraise money for the club’s Elk Buddies program by selling crafts at the Elk River Craft Bazaar.
DECA Students made candle mason jars, plants in mason jars, wooden pallet signs, tic tac toe bags, and they also sold cards that the special education students made.
The ten students who have organized the crafts for kids include Kaytlin Krivich, Danielle Lachmiller. Maria Brown, Casey Schlitz, Shae Mclean, Halle Doro. Caden Gatlin, Nate Faust, Zach HoVda, and Joey Halverson.
Elk Buddies is an organization where regular education students and special education students meet after school to hangout, make crafts, and to play games. The goal is to build new friendships and create special bonds with the special education students that will last a lifetime.
“As much as we would like to say we are changing the lives of special education students, it would be an understatement to say that they have not impacted our lives as well,” one student stated in a press release
The special needs students challenge typical students to think differently and accept adversity, the release said.
The financial goal of the unifying effort is to be able to raise enough money to buy new art supplies to make better crafts and take students on a field trip.
Being that special education busses are more expensive, the hope behind the fundraising will be to lift the financial burden off of the parents.