7th-grade students hope to raise $7,000 for a local homeless shelter

A group of 7th-grade students from Bettendorf Middle School has set the goal of raising $7,000 through various fundraising events for a local homeless shelter.

A total of 20 students are working towards raising money for the Kings Harvest Ministries, a Quad Cities’ based homeless shelter as part of their class project.

“We are typically a project-based learning school,” said Amanda Hutchinson, a 7th-grade language arts teacher at BMS. Students participate in various projects to gain real-life experiences.

While the amount may sound a lot, Hutchinson said that she is confident her students can do it.

“I want them to know that you can achieve anything that you set your mind to,” she added.

The students are also writing letters to local businesses to encourage them to participate in the fundraiser.

“I think that we are going to really, like impact Kings Harvest by raising money to help them,” said 7th-grade student, Brooklyn Teerlinck. She also added how the project is helping her to learn and improve communication skills.

For Bella Howard, one of the students organizing the fundraiser, the project is helping her improve her research skills and better understand issues. “The opportunity to do this is really cool,” Howards said. “..and having to research what these people go through… it’s really interesting.”

As their first event, the group will set up a lemonade stand on March 13th and March 14th outside the school from11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m

More information on the event can be found here.