People Helping People is What we Need More Of

We're weary, tired, frustrated. Why? The pandemic of CODIV-19, and there isn't a soul who can't wait for this to be over. But, there are many more months to grit through, but, it's not all doom and gloom, and bad news. There is good news too, with many people sucking it up and reaching out to help others in need.

Fox17 reported a super feel-good story about a frontline worker who is on a mission to make sure students at Grand Rapids Public Schools have enough supplies to be successful.

Audrey Wendt is her name and she is an ER Nurse at Spectrum Health Butterworth. She didn't let the pressure of her job or home responsibilities get in the way of answering a call she felt she had to answer, Students in need!

She researched schools in the area hoping to find the ones in the most need, finding a few that really needed some help, and narrowed it down to Buchanan Elementary. Why? Families with children at Buchanan are at a lower income and can't afford to assist the school to provide the simple extras like balls, puzzles and more for each room. The kids go without.

So, here came Audrey. Her living room is overflowing with school supplies, toys, puzzles and so much more because she wanted to help the students at Buchanan Elementary.

Audrey began using social media, and put together an Amazon Wish List. She thought "maybe people would buy like 10 boxes of crayons, and we'd be excited about that and then that night, we woke up and discovered that people had bought already like $1,000 worth of school supplies for the school and it kept growing at two days, at 48 hours, we had $3,000 and right now we are currently at $7500. and in eight days, so it just keeps getting bigger and we're very excited for these children."

The news just keeps getting better. They've already completed the wishlists for the Pre-K class, Kindergarten, and the gym teacher; the first and second grades as well as the art teacher's wish list are nearly there.

Grand Rapids is a community that knows what's really important in life. Audrey said "it proved that the community understands that if we invest our time, and our effort and our money, and our love in these children, that that is going to change their lives and we are going to benefit from that."

The students at Buchanan Elementary have been remote learning since the start of the school year, but are scheduled to return in person Today, October 19.

If you would like to help the students check out the wishlist and also, click here to learn more about the Buchanan Vending Machine Wish Fund.