Students in Earl Hanson’s Peace Builders club spent an hour after school making goody bags for veterans.
Peace Builders is a club that promotes kindness and teaches peaceful solutions to youth. For the last five years, or so students in the group have made goody bags for veterans.
“The idea of making goody bags for veterans initially came from a parent request. I had a parent who worked at Applebees and she wondered if the students in my classroom could make cards for the veterans to be given with the free meal that Applebees offers,” said teacher Kirsten Jorgensen.
The parent reported back that the cards had been a huge hit and the veterans loved the cards. The class continued to create the cards again the following year. One of the veterans had won a $50 gift card and was so touched by the student’s cards that he insisted the money be donated towards the Peace Builders club. The group used the $50 to buy supplies to make goody bags.
From there started the tradition. Each goody bag contains a decorated bottle of water, a couple of candy bars, and a card designed by one of our students. The bags are also decorated.
“I continue having the group make goody bags because Applebees always reports how much the veterans appreciate the kind gesture,” said Jorgensen.
Once the bags are ready, the students box them up and they are delivered to Applebees in Moline. The bags will be given out on Veterans Day, November 11th.
Since the club doesn’t have money, Jorgensen receives donations of water and candy from Earl Hanson staff and sometimes parents.
Normally there are about 20 kids in Peace Builders, but since this is one of their bigger projects any student is allowed to sign up to help, but they must be in good standing in their classroom to get selected.
Each month the club chooses a different project - sometimes the projects reach out into the community and sometimes they specifically reach out to the students in our school.
