The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Sisters Elementary School students outdid themselves this year in a fund-raising effort that raises money for the American Heart Association.

The elementary school collected $13,973.75, more than any of the 180 other Oregon elementary and middle schools that participated in what is called Jump Rope for Heart (some schools chose a basketball alternative, Hoops for Heart).

“It was just wonderful,” Anna LaPointe, the AHA director of youth marketing for Southern and Central Oregon, told The Nugget last week.

Jump Rope for Heart is a two-pronged program. One part tries to get all students engaged in physical activity (in this case, jumping rope) while teaching them the value of exercise as well as good nutrition and other health habits.

The other part invites students to “become little advocates,” as LaPointe put it, serving as fundraisers for the AHA, collecting donations from friends and family members. Students are encouraged to use the Internet to tap family members and others who live elsewhere. They are discouraged from going door-to-door, however.

Students are not required to collect donations to participate in the rope jumping. And they don’t collect pledges based on the amount of time they jump, as in other walks, races or jog-a-thons for charitable causes. They do receive incentive prizes of toys and other things, beginning with a minimum $5 donation. The association refers to these as “thank-you gifts.”

LaPointe stresses the attempt to reach all students, especially those “who aren’t sports-oriented or haven’t found a passion for physical activity.” She says the association provides the jump ropes and also provides educational materials that can be used as a three-week unit on health and physical activity in the classroom.

The process takes about three weeks and culminates in a one-hour performance in which all participating students jump rope. As LaPointe explains it, “We provide them with envelopes three weeks before their big fun event. We do not encourage door-to-door whatsoever. We just ask them to speak with friends and families about why they’re collecting money on behalf of the AHA to help save lives and (asking them) to take their physical activity into account…Everyone is encouraged to participate; all receive envelopes but they have the option to give or not to give…”

The lead person helping with the program at Sisters Elementary School this year was Mark Lamont, the school’s physical education teacher. This was his first experience leading the effort. Although he is in his 13th year on the teaching staff, this is his first year as the PE teacher. He said he basically just tried to follow the pattern of what has been done before.

He said that on the big day a few weeks ago virtually the whole student body of about 420 was divided into three groups, occupying the gym, the central commons/lunchroom area and some space outside. Each student jumped for two minutes then passed the rope to someone else and took a four-minute break, continuing this rotation for an hour. Thus, the actual time jumping was about 20 minutes.

“Nobody can jump rope for an hour” without a break, Lamont said.

He said each student was given an envelope that served as a sponsor sheet with 20 or 30 spaces for donor names. He said the kids “used the Internet a lot to e-mail friends or family that may not live in Sisters.” He said hundreds “if not thousands” of dollars were collected this way. Lamont estimated that about 250 of the students participated in raising money.

The program has some residual effect, with many kids anxious to jump rope during PE classes or recesses for some time after the formal AHA program.

“It’s amazing exercise,” Lamont says. “You don’t have to join the athletic club or anything. It’s just this piece of rope…”

He said he tried to downplay the prize aspect of the fund-raising

“We try to avoid the kids being fixated on a little plastic (toy) from Puerto Rico,” he said. Given that, he was touched by the story of one girl who had some individual donations of from 12 cents to 42 cents.

“She was obviously scrapping for everything she could get and her teacher said, ‘Gosh, you really worked hard to get those prizes.’ But she said, ‘I don’t care about the prizes. I just want to help people.’”

Lamont knows the girl and said she is from a poor family.

The Sisters total of nearly $14,000 raised this year represents nearly 10 percent of the $150,723 raised by similar programs throughout Oregon excluding the Portland metro area. This is LaPointe’s territory. As its own prize for this effort, the whole school received $500 worth of PE equipment from the AHA in conjunction with U.S. Games.

Although the AHA program has been operating every other year at Sisters Elementary School in the past, Lamont says the AHA would like the school to run it again next year and Principal Jan Silberman said the association wants the school to shoot for a $20,000 goal next year.