Hixon Elementary school made a hearty donation of $2,500 to the Heart and Stroke Foundation this week, after gathering donations for their Jump Rope For the Heart fundraising campaign.
“I'm extremely proud," said Tana Gowan, the resource teacher for Hixon Elementary school. "The whole community rallied around these kids, it was a big deal. They worked really hard at it.
“It's a significant amount of money raised."
The school has participated in the fundraiser for the last 15 years, and this year saw a major boost from Hixon's past achievements during the annual event, which at most totalled $1,100.
It was all the more astounding considering the school has only 37 students in total from kindergarten to Grade 7, and only 23 of them participated.
“Hixon Elementary may find themselves in the running for one of the foundations Big Heart Awards this year - an award for schools with exceptional fundraising-per-student results,” said Chantel Plum, co-ordinator of community fundraising.
The students went door-to-door to collect pledges for their activity, which was an hour and a half of running to and from six different stations including high jump, spring boards, bouncy balls and of course skipping rope.
“It was a lot of fun, and a great event,” said Gowan.
Residents were often asked to pledge money in support for more than one student.
Another way they generated donations was through online fundraising, it allows smaller communities to reach out to more people, said Gowan. An estimated $495 of the total was raised online.
More than 14,000 schools across Canada have registered for the fundraisers that will continue to take place throughout the month of June, which is heart and stroke month in Canada.
“Hixon elementary students are Heart Heroes and leading their school and community toward the vision of generations free of heart disease and stroke by taking charge of their own personal health and by raising funds for life-saving research that leads to breakthrough medical advances, social change, and health education - an investment that has huge payoffs,” said Plum.
This generation could be the first to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents because of childhood obesity, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon.
Hixon is located 57 kilometres from Prince George and has a population of 202.
The amount raised is equal to every resident pledging 25 cents.
