“We are difference makers” is the school wide theme for Cedar Trails Elementary School in Cedar Springs. This year young students in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade joined together to build some important “Habits of Mind.”

Kindergarten teacher Cheryl Tacoma helped coordinate the effort and shared her thoughts with the staff at a recent staff meeting.

During the holiday season 15 classrooms took the challenge to make a difference with their kind hands and kind hearts. They chose to raise money to help other children around the world. The Cedar Trails students did extra jobs at home to earn dimes and quarters. The parents were delighted with their children’s enthusiasm to do extra jobs.  What fun the families had earning, “Dimes for Ducks, Quarters for Quackers,” or “Change for Chickens!”

These young students stepped up to the plate and took their commitment to help other children very seriously. They truly wanted to help and make a difference.  Kindergarten student Brielle Sarniak explained how our Dimes for Ducks worked.

“You see, we kids do jobs at home and get dimes, then we bring them to school and add them all up and then we send the money so the poor people can have the ducks.  Then they eat the duck’s eggs for food, but they can’t eat all the eggs, so they sell the extra eggs and get some money so their kids can go to school like us.”  Kindergartner Nolan Myers summed it all up by saying, “and that’s called kind hands kind hearts!”

In less than 2 weeks the Cedar Trails staff, students and families were able to make these amazing donations to World Vision for 312 ducks, 10 chickens, 1 goat, 2 children able to attend school for a year; $115 to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and $100 for food for children in Hand of Hope. The combined gifts totaled approximately $2500.

There is no doubt Cedar Trails Elementary is “making a difference!”