Ephrata HS 'Toys for Teens' drive next week
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 years, 1 month AGO
File photo The annual Toys for Teens fundraising drive always ends with a special assembly where teachers do all sorts of fun things, like get a plate of whipped cream in the face. The 2017 Toys for Teens drive is next week.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | December 8, 2017 2:00 AM
EPHRATA — The competition is on next week at Ephrata High School; the annual Toys for Teens drive is scheduled to start Monday and will last all week.
Toys for Teens has been going on for about a decade at EHS, long enough to establish its own traditions. Students raise money, as much money as they can, which is used to buy Christmas gifts for high school-age students. The gifts are donated to, and distributed by, the Ephrata Food Bank.
The goal for 2017 is $4,000, said organizer Sam Byam. Third-period classes will compete with each other to raise the most money.
One of the traditions attached to Toys for Teens is the prize, which uses the talents of EHS teachers. Well, actually it relies on their good sportsmanship – the “winning” teacher can be asked to dance in front of the whole school, kiss a farm animal, or do something else that might be considered beneath the dignity of the teaching profession.
Teachers have served time in a dunk tank in December, sung along to karaoke at a school-wide assembly, competed in dance competitions and kissed the aforementioned farm animal, a llama. At least one dance-off included a plate of whipped cream in the face.
For 2017 “the teacher selected will be running through an obstacle course as one of Santa’s helpers,” Byam wrote. “They will have to deliver a sack of presents through different obstacles to the end.”
The, um, winning teacher is selected from a pool of volunteers.
Toys for Teens grew out of a common problem for adults, that buying gifts for teens is tough. And that’s just as true for people buying gifts for Christmas basket distributions as it is for parents and grandparents trying to decipher what’s cool and what’s lame. So the EHS students and leadership class fill that niche, taking the money to a local business and buying as many cool gifts as possible.
Donations from the community are accepted as well, Byam said. People who want to make a donation can drop it off at the high school office, 333 Fourth Ave. NW. The Ephrata Food bank also is accepting donations of toys for children up to 18 years of age. Toy and money donations can be dropped off at the food bank, 1010 A St. SW.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.
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