Elevate Academy to host resource fair and food drive. It will include baby kangaroos
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IDAHO FALLS — A local charter school is looking to give back to the community on Thursday, hosting a community food drive and resource fair that will include Santa Claus, a raffle, a food truck and baby kangaroos.
The Community Resource Fair and Food Drive will go from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Elevate Academy, 1873 Walton Avenue. The event is free to the public.
Community members are asked to bring in five cans of non-perishable food to help with the food drive and will receive a raffle ticket in return. The collected cans will be donated to the Community Food Basket of Idaho Falls.
Among other goodies, the raffle items include a massage gun and Elevate Academy swag.
Vice Principal Nancy Heyrend told EastIdahoNews.com that the Student Council has worked alongside community partners to help plan and organize the event.
“They have been practicing those phone calls, (and it’s) been really fun to watch them and watch them grow as each phone call goes,” Heyrend said. “They were pretty awkward and uncomfortable at first, not really knowing what to say. … Watching them grow and develop from that, that has been so fun, and they’re taking a lot of pride.”
One of the main partnerships the students and the school have used is The Growv, a local organization that aims to empower and support underserved youth and families, in starting the idea to host this event.
Heyrend said that one of the students on the council told her that he has a family member who raises kangaroos. She thought it was a joke, but once she saw the photos and received approval from the student’s family member, it became a reality.
“Imagine, like, how excited kids will be. Not only do they get to see Santa, but then they get to see some baby kangaroos on top of it,” Heyrend said.
Here is are some of the organizations that will be at the event:
- Life Inc.
- SPARC, part of Community Youth in Action
- Nest Pregnancy Center
- Idaho Department of Labor
- Fostering Idaho
- TRIO
- Community Family Clinic
- Idaho Navigation, part of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
- University of Idaho Wellness
- Community Council of Idaho
- Behavioral Health Center
- Vocational Rehabilitation
- Court Appointed Special Advocates
- Rehabilitation Health Services Cares for Youth
- Amada Senior Care
To learn more about Elevate Academy, visit elevate208.org.