News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters Elementary School students are bringing in their spare change, a few dollar bills — one even offered up $100 earned mowing lawns — to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The school is staging a raffle for gift certificates donated by a wide array of Sisters merchants. A drawing will be held September 20. The funds will be handed over to Sisters Kiwanis as part of a donation to the American Red Cross.
Raffle organizer Debbie Nippert is the mother of a 10-year-old Sisters Elementary School student.
According to Debbie and her husband Allen, even before Katrina struck their family was working hard to instill a sense of gratitude for the lives of plenty they live in Sisters. Seeing thousands of people reduced to the clothes on their back, lives turned upside down brought that lesson home in a powerful and graphic way.
Thus was the idea for a raffle born.
“This all started just discussing with my daughter (Lauren Heckman) how fortunate we are to live in Sisters... how fortunate we are and what it would be like to lose everything,” Debbie said.
Debbie set about recruiting merchants to contribute to the raffle and found them receptive.
“The merchants of Sisters have been very supportive,” she said.
The Nipperts’ business, National Fabrication, Inc. has agreed to match contributions up to $1,500.
According to Nippert, student response has been positive, both financially and in spirit. She noted that the disaster has made a strong impression on kids, making them aware of how easily the comforts and conveniences they take for granted could be swept away.
Teachers, too, are joining in.
“One of the teachers bought a raffle ticket for all the students in her classroom,” Nippert said.
Tickets are available at Sisters Elementary School and at Grooming by Kellie.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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