Kindness Fundraiser Raises Thousands For Bayville School

BAYVILLE, NJ — Kids in Bayville are spreading kindness around town - and raising thousands of dollars in the process.

Through their Kindness Initiative, the Bayville School's "Raise Craze" had students show their appreciation to donors. The goal was to raise $10,000 for the school, but at the end of the three-week campaign, students had raised more than $15,000 and completed more than 1,000 acts of kindness.

“This fundraiser has been not only beneficial in the classroom but also at home! Encouraging students to think outside of themselves and look to helping others promotes good in the entire community,” said Meredith Trembulak, Bayville School Elementary fourth grade teacher and PTA vice president.

Students have done everything from chalking kind notes on the sidewalk at bus stops and reading to their younger sibling or friend to delivering goodie baskets to the local police department and writing appreciation letters to teachers and administrators and so much more, according to the school.

“My favorite act of kindness has been helping my teacher around the classroom because it feels good to help others, even when they don’t ask!” said fourth grader Emma Olszweski.

In addition to individual acts of kindness, the school hosted a Family Service Night where the students participated in creating kindness bookmarks to hide in the library, decorated kindness rocks and posters to display around the school, recorded jokes and kindness advice for other students and wrote thank you letters to veterans and sent them to the New Jersey Veterans Home in Paramus. They also donated items for care kits to be given to the homeless.

The last planned group act of kindness for the fundraiser is helping the Clean Ocean Action beach clean up at Amherst Beach on Oct. 22. Read More: Help Clean Up Beaches In Berkeley

Students plan to keep the kindness going through to Thanksgiving by hosting their Second Annual Can-struction Contest. Each classroom will compete to design a unique sculpture using the donated food items. This collection will help the St. Barnabas Food Pantry provide food for families in need during the holiday season.

Thanks to the money that was raised, students will watch Principal Steven Rieder and Assistant Amy LaBarca face off in a lip sync battle during a schoolwide assembly on Nov. 4. The loser gets slimed.

Money raised goes towards hosting school assemblies, providing field trips and hosting community events. Donations are still accepted through Oct. 22, and you can support the Bayville School through this link.