The Crookston Eagles Club stopped at Highland Elementary School this afternoon to make a very charitable donation of $2,500 to go towards sensory items for the school’s special education program.
The Crookston Eagles Club has made charitable donations to the school in the past for various projects and additions to the school, such as the Itasca sixth-grade camping project. Crookston Eagles Club Secretary Jake Fee explained that the club is passionate about the youth in the school district, and the club was more than happy to make another donation to the school. “Our (Crookston Eagles Club) main motto is “People helping people,” and we really try to focus on that. We’re involved with the youth, and we do a lot of different things with the public schools, especially Highland School. Our Grand Aerie has a grant program, and they have all kinds of different areas, and one was the Children’s Foundation,” Crookston Eagles Secretary Jake Fee explained. “I came across that and wrote up a grant for $1,000, and we were awarded that from our Grand Aerie to be presented to Highland. Then our local membership at a meeting said let’s do a little bit more, and we added another $1,500 to that to make a total of $2,500 to go towards the Special Education Department for their Sensory Room.”
Much of the money the Crookston Eagles Club gathered for the school came from the public and club members participating in the club’s charitable gaming events they hold throughout the year. “Our main focus with our charitable gaming is to give back. We use charitable funds throughout the year, we donate anywhere from $30 to $50,000 depending on the year, and that’s all-Crookston money,” Jake Fee explained. “So we use those funds and put them in the hands that need them the most, and we try to focus on youth especially. It was a great opportunity to do something that will help a lot of kids here at Highland.”
With the donation, the school will purchase new sensory items and special chairs to help special needs students at Highland School. The special chairs will help them settle down and get through the day. “Some of the kids need to move, some need to fidget with things, and that helps them during the day,” Highland Principal Chris Trostad explained. “There are lots of different ideas that we have to use for the money, so it’ll be a great resource that really does help students that need some of these sensory items, or sometimes we have a sensory room where they take a sensory break during their day, and it helps their entire day go smoothly by having scheduled sensory breaks for some students.”
Some of the items the school plans to purchase include miniature swings and trampolines, buildable blocks with nuts-and-bolts and wobble chairs.
A picture of Crookston Eagles President Marc Beiseker and Secretary Jake Fee delivering the check to Highland Principal Chris Trostad can be seen below-
