Woodland Heights coin drive breaks holiday fundraising record

LACONIA — As part of the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction’s record-breaking fundraising total this year, students at Woodland Heights Elementary School broke their own donation goals. With a coin drive, the Wildcats raised about $500. Along with a near matching sum collected through fundraising throughout the year, the school donated $950.55 to the auction — the most the school has ever given in its near 30 year tradition of holiday fundraising, according to Principal Michaela Champlin.

It’s a chance for students to feel included in the collective spirit of giving around the holiday season, Champlin said. As an added benefit, the auction’s local impact makes it fundraising for a cause whose impacts they have experienced.

“So many of the recipients of the Children’s Auction, our families and kids benefit from,” Champlin said. “The kids really get to feel like they’re giving back.”

The coin drive joined other district efforts at fundraising for the holidays. Staff paid to wear jeans on two days, raising a sum of nearly $1,200; Elm Street School’s ESSence of Giving raised $166 for St. Vincent de Paul; sixth graders at the middle school donated food and clothes to Isaiah 61 Café and several schools held a food drive. 

Woodland Heights' annual fundraising effort for the Children’s Auction, and its precursors, date back to the early 1990s, according to Champlin. That effort has evolved over the years. Previously, people could pay to send student carolers to a friend's home, kindergarteners have sold gingerbread houses they made and the school has created a large quilt and auctioned it off. 

A coin drive has been the fundraiser of choice for the last decade or so at Woodland Heights, Champlin said. Students collected and counted coins in large bins in each of the school’s “pods.” Coin drives are also an accessible way for all students to join in the giving effort, Champlin noted.

The coin drive was kicked off with a special appearance by Ed Darling, who's been volunteering for the auction since nearly the beginning, at a school assembly after Thanksgiving. Darling's children are Woodland Heights alumni.

By the end of the auction, the nearly thousand dollars the school was able to contribute was the most it has ever given. Champlin said it felt like a continued sign of recovery following the harder times of the pandemic. 

“Hopefully, we can continue to build that.”

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The Sunshine Effect is a new series in The Laconia Daily Sun highlighting the people and organizations working to improve our communities through volunteering and fundraising. We believe that telling their stories will encourage others to support their work, and launch new charitable efforts of their own. Have a suggestion for someone making a difference we should feature? Share it with us at laconiadailysun.com/sunshineeffecttip.