By: Matt Scher, matts@977thebolt.com
Humboldt, IA – A Humboldt Middle School teacher and her students are teaming up once again this year for a cause called Brave Bags, a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to creating care packages for hospitalized children in Iowa. Katie Phillips is a seventh-grade civics teacher at Humboldt Middle School and started the non-profit in 2017.
Phillips says the care packages have gone to numerous hospitals and consist of an assortment of items.
She says the project is a four month process, starting with the teaching students about empathy and the meaning behind the brave bags mission. From there, Phillips discusses with her students means of fundraising, advertising, and marketing.
Two students at the middle school took fundraising to the next level this year, with one of them having a personal connection to Brave Bags. Seventh grader Weston Paul decided to do a fundraiser called “Bath for Bags” with his sister, sixth grader Sidney Paul, who once was the recipient of a Brave Bag.
Sidney talked about being on the giving side of the Brave Bag process after having received one at a young age.
They would raise over $600.
Phillips says that her students have set a goal of raising $10,000 by the end of March. The civics teacher says that physical items for Brave Bags can be donated at the middle school. They are also taking monetary donations through Venmo and Paypal, with links to both at the organization’s website bravebags.org and Facebook page. The organization also can accept cash and check.