Twelve elementary school students in the Lake Pend Oreille School District were recently selected as winners of Kinderhaven’s holiday coloring contest, which the organization kicked off along with their Tour of Trees this year.

Kathy Chambers, board chair at Kinderhaven, said the coloring contest was the idea of a one of the board member. In total, the organization distributed around 1,200 coloring sheets to local schools, she said.

“[Usually] we have a family night,” she said. “Because we couldn’t do that this year we were like, ‘how can we include our local families?’”

The contest was judged by staff at each school, Chambers said, and children who won received a fishing pole and tackle box, which was the idea of one of the Kinderhaven board members who purchased the gear earlier in the year using their own money.

“We’re the recipients of the community’s generosity, and this is our way of being able to return the favor a little bit,” she said.