AMAZING Community Support

I feel extremely fortunate to work for two communities that support their children and schools as much as Lind and Ritzville do. I could go on and on with pages of examples related to the type of support our communities provide to our students and school systems. However, the following items are just a few examples that demonstrate how truly wonderful our communities are.

• At the beginning of the school year many local businesses (Lind and Ritzville) provided financial support so that every middle school student could receive a Bulldog t-shirt and every high school student could receive a Bronco t-shirt. This was a fantastic way to help create unity for the academic cooperative!

• As our Lind-Ritzville sixth grade students prepared to travel to Camp Wooten, they received donations from the Lind and Ritzville Lion’s Clubs, Caring Neighbors, and Pheasants Forever. In addition, the Lind Chamber of Commerce recently donated funds to assist our middle school in bringing in a national speaker to discuss the very important topic of cyberbullying.

• Another example of the support we have received from our communities came from the voters of the Ritzville School District. Recently they approved a two-year capital levy that will allow the district to complete the track project at Jimmie Snider Field. In addition, the many volunteers of Project 56 have donated years of hard work and fundraising, and, consequently, they were able to donate $130,000 in community-raised funds to help support the track project.

• This fall, through the generous donations of several Ritzville alumni, the Ritzville School District was able to purchase 10 laptops for student use in the district.

• Recently, many students from both Lind and Ritzville benefited from the generosity of Sterling Bank and the Coats 4 Kids program. Because of public and private donations, this program was able to provide students who may not have had proper winter clothing with coats, hats, and gloves.

• During this past week as the LRS football team made their way to Tacoma to bring home a state championship, Lind-Ritzville High School was overwhelmed with support. To begin with, several community members provided financial support to assist students who, for financial reasons, may not have been able to attend the game in Tacoma. Next, many of the players’ mothers donated time and food to put together ice chests full of sandwiches, cookies, fruit, and snacks for our football team as they traveled to Tacoma. In addition, Stephen McFadden and The Journal created a wonderful insert in the newspaper to recognize the accomplishments and provide well wishes for our football players, made possible by the support of many of our local businesses.

In my opinion, it is wonderful how our community members donate their time and resources for all of the right reasons. There isn’t anyone I know of that gives of their time and finances because they want recognition.

Rather, our communities continue to give because they understand the importance of supporting our young people. Our communities give because they want the best for all children.

In closing, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who donates their time and resources to support the students of both Lind and Ritzville.

I, for one, know how blessed and fortunate we are to have such wonderful community support. THANK YOU!