The Friends of Rachel are set to extend their friendship to the community through a special Valentine project. On Saturday, Feb. 13, students in the Pine Bluffs High School Friends of Rachel Club will make themselves available to provide childcare free of charge for couples heading out for a night on the town for Valentines Day.
On tap for children being watched by the Friends of Rachel is reading, games, snacks, free play, interaction with therapy dogs, and a quiet/sleeping room for the younger set. Parents are asked to make reservations by Feb. 10 to ensure a spot for their child/children. Childcare will be provided for children who are newborn to age 11. To register contact Donna Crandall at 245-4185 or e-mail her at dcrandall@mail.lrm2.k12.wy.us.
The evening is the result of the students commitment to follow "Rachel’s Challenge" to start a chain reaction of kindness at the school and surrounding communities. Advisor Crandall said the club had its beginning in the fall after the Rachel’s Challenge team visited Pine Bluffs. Named for Rachel Scott, who died in the Columbine High School shootings, the challenge aims to do as Scott did — show kindness to everyone and make an effort to make a difference in someone else’s life.
Crandall outlined a few of the ways FOR club members are working to make a difference not just in Pine Bluffs, but elsewhere in the world. Money collected will go toward providing food for hungry children and pay for cleft palate surgery for a child in need of the procedure.
"Rachel’s Challenge has a warehouse in Denver," Crandall explained.
The money is sent there and boxes are packed with food purchased with the donated money. Crandall said it is the hope of the FOR club to make a field trip to the warehouse and spend a day assisting in the packing of food boxes.
In addition to collecting donations from the upcoming night out childcare, the club is selling Chain Reaction bracelets to fellow students and school staff. The bracelets are $5 and those buying one and wearing it on a specified day can dress down for classes. Crandall gives credit to principal John Binning for supporting the students in the sale of the bracelets. She also said members of the community can purchase the bracelets for the $5 donation.
Chase Thompson, an eighth-grader who is stepping up into a leadership role in the FOR club, said, "I’ve learned so much. We have now got our act together and we are ready to start our projects. We have also learned that our school is willing to help us out in any project that we are going to take on."
"This group of people are all willing to do what it takes to help others," he added.
Aside from helping needy children around the world through their fund-raising projects, FOR is using an on-going project to impact PBHS and Pine Bluffs junior high and elementary schools. Shoeboxes have been collected and strips of paper supplied to all classrooms. Students and staff are being encouraged to write down the name and positive action of others in the buildings on the strips of paper and put them in the box. At the end of the school year, club members will gather the strips — showing messages like "Joe held the door open for me," "Jenny let me borrow a pencil," "John ate with me today" and the like — and fashion them in a chain which they are hoping will circle the quarter-mile track on campus.
The impact of Scott’s desire of a chain reaction of kindness is being felt though the club is mere months old.
"I’ve learned you can make a difference," senior Kayla Kay said. "Whether it’s being a small difference or a large difference."
"I’ve also learned you’ve got to be committed and compassionate and I have both," she continued. "I love to help and make a difference."
