Left to right: Junior Kenley Dufresne and Junior Denson Denis of the Lehigh Senior High School Wrestling Team. PHOTO PROVIDED
Due to the pandemic, the Lehigh Senior High School wrestling coach looked for alternative fundraising efforts, which resulted in the team receiving new headgear.
“This year the children couldn’t sell anything at school” Trainer Kyle Von Linden said about selling chocolate and changing money. “We were limited in how we could raise funds. That is why we turned to this alternative financing. “
The fundraising campaigns were conducted through DonorsChoose, where teachers can post their needs in the classroom or on the sports team. As the leading way to support public schools, since 2000 4.7 million people and partners have provided $ 1 billion to support nearly 2 million teacher requests for classroom experience and resources. DonorsChoose sends the funded resources straight to the classroom.
On May 4th, Teacher Appreciation Day, SONIC Drive-In through Limeades for Learning matched 50 percent of every donation to requests from teachers about DonorsChoose. SONIC Drive-In donated $ 1.5 million to Teacher Inquiries, helping more than 7,000 teachers across the country.
SONIC has been supporting teachers during Teacher Appreciation Month since 2016.
Von Linden received a combined donation of $ 649.
“Teachers jumped right into the past year and developed a variety of innovative methods to enable their students to learn in both personal and virtual classrooms.” said Lori Abou Habib, SONIC’s chief marketing officer, in a prepared statement. “We thank these teachers who create inspiring learning environments for the students in a challenging time. SONIC’s $ 1.5 million fundraiser gave teachers access to much-needed materials to successfully complete this school year. “
Although this was the first time Von Linden had used Donors Choose, another teacher at Lehigh Senior High School told him about the option.
The project “Help these promising young men assert themselves at their best.” was to give your athletes the right headgear so they would be safe during competition.
Von Linden said last year was his first year as a wrestling head coach. He said some of the headgear had Velcro straps that stopped working and the team would have to share three headgear among 14 wrestlers on the team. There were times when the helmets fell off in the middle of the game, resulting in the team demanding stoppage time to fix and reattach the helmet.
About a month ago, Linden’s DonorsChoose announced that their project had been funded and they would be handling all orders. He said at the beginning of the project that he could go online and choose the headgear he wanted for his team and it would be sent straight to the school.
“I can give every child their own head covering. There is no more Velcro “, Von Linden said and added that the youngsters are very excited about the new equipment.
The winter sports season runs from November to January or February. Last season Von Linden said they did really well with 10 guys who went to the Regionals, two of whom were underclass.
“It was a really good experience” He said about his first year as a coach that created better bonds with children both inside and outside his class. “I’m very excited and looking forward to next year and to building on our successes from last year.”
Von Linden also wrestled when he was younger. He said he enjoyed the sport because you only compete against your height and weight, which gives anyone the chance to wrestle if they want.
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