Pay it Forward

  • Pay It Forward is a small volunteer group of students working together with adult advisors to provide resources to assist students in need. Our mission is to make sure no student at A.H.S. is without basic needs for food, clothing, personal care or school supplies.

    The COZY CLOSET - This is a room in the ALC which has been created to share clothing with students. The Clothing room was started a few years ago by Ms.Kathy Lasee and her students, in her back room. The summer of the remodel of Kathy's room led to the storage of clothing in the ALC.The clothes are still stored there today! 

    CHRISTMAS GIFTS - Around 6 years ago, the Guidance Staff started a GUILD group during OLE time, and did some fundraising and took kids shopping to purchase Christmas gifts for a couple of families. The Guild was called Pay It Forward. The next season, our newly formed group of helpers adopted the Pay It Forward name and also the 7th Annual Magic of Christmas Craft Fair to raise funds to purchase gifts for students here at AHS in need of a little holiday cheer. That year, 2018, we provided gifts for 47 students, and in 2019 we expanded and gifted 75 students. In 2020 we gifted 147 students in the district with a gift. In 2021 we provided approximately 120 students with gifts.

     

    Partners and Donations: 

    We've had help from multiple partners, the CTE classes, and FFA Club, the vendors from our craft fair, local businesses, the Teacher’s Union, and many of our staff members, who helped raise funds or donated cash to our project, along with a grant from Ashland Ford through Mr. Whiting's class, and even complete strangers.

    In 2019, advisor Deb Swartz was Pay It Forward Christmas shopping at Walmart, a
    A complete stranger approached her, asking for directions to a department. He thought she
    was a Walmart employee because she had a cart full of clothing, looking at a shelf of
    clothing,she wasn't wearing a jacket, and had a key lanyard hanging around her neck. She
    directed him to the department, and away he went, only to return to her in a few
    minutes, to ask her some questions about the needs of people in our community during
    the Christmas holiday. She shared with him what she was doing, shopping for Pay It Forward,
    and within a few minutes, he handed her a Gift Card loaded with $500 for our cause. He
    was from Iowa, on his way to snowmobile in the U.P. of Michigan.

    Our AHS Staff has always been very supportive of the Pay It Forward Project. Donations of cash, books, blankets, and clothing and shoes have helped our cause over the past several years. Students who have received gifts have donated back to our cause to Pay it Forward to others. When Covid hit in 2020, we were unable to have our main fundraiser, Christmas Craft Fair, but there was still a need for Christmas gifts for students in our school. With the help of Ms. McFarlane, we organized an Online Raffle with unique prizes. We created several large Gift Baskets, each with a unique theme. The raffle was just what we needed and we were able to fund gifts for everyone on our Christmas list with a fleece blanket, slipper socks, a book, and a cup of cocoa. The Christmas Basket Raffle continued in 2021 and 2022! With school back to normal, we have a group of students meeting as a team and working together to collect donations to organize the raffle.

    JOIN US by filling out this Google Sheet

     

    GRADES: 9-12

    LENGTH OF SEASON: Year-round

    ADVISOR: Deb Swartz→ dswartz@sdak12.net

     

     

PIF