HAYDEN — Christmas shopping is always better with friends.

When those friends are festively clad classmates with a common goal of shopping for families in need while keeping to a budget, it makes for a much merrier shopping experience.

“It’s really nice and I’m super happy that I can bring joy to people who can’t afford as much as they would like,” Lake City High School senior Aurora Johnson said Thursday morning. "It’s a really fun and great activity, and I love how passionate our class is for it.”

It was the fifth year that Lake City High School economics teacher Matt Ruchti's first semester students participated in the Give Back Project. Students annually spend about a month fundraising ahead of the big Walmart shopping day.

“We broke last year’s record,” Ruchti said.

This year’s total raised was $13,418, nearly $900 more than 2024's total of $12,540, which broke the previous year's record by over $2,000.

“Obviously, having school canceled (Wednesday) and reorganizing everything on the fly for today was a little bit hectic, but Walmart has been outstanding and flexible in working with us," Ruchti said.

He highly praised his students for going above and beyond for this year's Give Back Project.

"I’m very humbled by them," he said. "They are great human beings, and it just reminds us as educators that if you give them an opportunity to show their worth, they will surprise you and fulfill everything we hope our young kids would do in life.”

Through the Give Back Project, students study financial literacy while learning life lessons about budgeting, community and character.

Ruchti has coordinated similar altruistic programs for over 15 years, but the Give Back Project has become a newer Lake City tradition.

“I don’t know what other student-led programs in our community do, but I don’t think they’re doing $60,000 in the last five years,” Ruchti said.

Students scoured the Hayden Walmart to fulfill wish lists while staying within a $197-per-person budget. The presents they donate will brighten the holidays for families at Union Gospel Mission and Family Promise of North Idaho.

Sophomores Sami Leaverton and Tayla Ruchti, with junior Makaela Randall, wore Christmas red sweaters as they checked scents of different body butters and bath gels while deciding on gifts for a local 14-year-old girl.

"We have her wish list, so first it was music stuff, art supplies, journaling and Roblox," Tayla Ruchti said. "This is such a cool experience."

Makaela said Lake City is big on giving, and that the Give Back Project benefits students as well as the community.

“It’s a gift within a gift,” she said. “We’re learning from it and we’re able to give from it, and then they’ll receive and hopefully they do the same when they’re older.”

Senior Liam McFarland said he feels it's important to give back to the community.

"I used to do it with my dad every year," he said. "It’s just a fun thing to do and to help out people in need.”

The garden center was full of students and their carts, loaded with toys and goodies. Snacks were also available to refuel the teens after their storewide searches.

Liam, in a festive Santa shirt and hat, gave a thumbs-up as he set the final items in his cart. He was about to make Christmas brighter for a local family, and he did it just under budget.

“I think we’re about right on the line," he said with a grin.

    Makaela Randall holds up a beauty product for Tayla Ruchti to smell Thursday morning, as Sami Leaverton, left, checks inventory while shopping for local families for Lake City High School's Give Back Project.
  

    Lake City High senior Brady Kelly organizes bags with assistance from senior Sydney Byersdorff as the students shop for local families on Thursday at the Hayden Walmart. Economics students raised over $13,000, then had to shop within a $197-per-person budget for families in need as part of the annual Give Back Project.
  

    Chloe Fuqua, left, and Kiana Kilgore discuss which items to buy Thursday morning at the Hayden Walmart during the Lake City High School Give Back Project shopping field trip.
  

    Lake City High School senior Jack Rogers is in the "Christmas moood" in a festive bovine sweater Thursday morning as he and his peers bag wish list items at the Hayden Walmart during the Give Back Project shopping day.