Gilford Middle School student council holds fundraiser for Camp Resilience

GILFORD — This year, the Gilford Middle School Student Council chose Camp Resilience as their community service project recipient. The students wanted to give back to their community in a meaningful way and many of the students and staff at GMS have family members that are veterans, current service members, or first responders, which made this a perfect organization to support.

Camp Resilience offers retreats to help service members, veterans, first responders and their loved ones recover and maintain their physical, psychological and emotional well-being. They offer free 3-4 day retreats combining peer-to-peer counseling, life skills workshops and outdoor experiential learning. They strive to provide attendees with the tools to develop self-improvement goals and sustain ties to their community. The retreats stress the importance of camaraderie and wellness in fostering resilience.

GMS Student Council spent several months planning, organizing and achieving their goal to raise money for an amazing program that helps so many of those who give so much of themselves to our community and our country. The students raised $300 selling raffle tickets for a gift basket, as well as selling paper flowers to write a positive message, which were hung on the Giving Tree located in the foyer of the middle school.

The GMS Student Council created and built the Giving Tree this year so students, staff and visitors could see the progress of any current community project fundraiser that may be happening at the school.

“The Student Council has worked so hard this year to make an impact in their school community as well as our local community," advisor Aja Montague said. "They started a new recycling program at GMS, raised money for families in need during Christmas, recently revived the community gardens at GMS and have closed out their year with a donation to Camp Resilience. As you can imagine I am beyond proud of all their hard work and time they have dedicated to accomplishing the goals they set for themselves. I look forward to seeing what next year holds for them.”