Trailside Elementary School second-grade students donated canned goods and more than 60 holiday stockings stuffed with hats, gloves and toys as a part of the Adopt A Native Elder Program, according to 2nd-grade teacher Krista Ingle. More than 90 students in Lesley Rockwood, Heidi Kaiserman, Brecon Sorensen and Ingle’s class took their donations to the Native Elder Rug Show at Deer Valley on Thursday.
Ingle adopted Grandma Helen Rose, who lives on the Chinle, Arizona Indian Reservation, four years ago. Each year, Ingle collects canned goods for Rose and uses the service project to teach her students about the importance of giving.
Trailside 2nd-grader William Iverson and his family decided to use the opportunity as a family service project, according to Iverson, who said he filled 10 stockings with coloring books, shampoo and toys.
“I had a lot of fun and felt really good inside myself,” he said.
Iverson’s classmates also enjoy donating to the reservation. According to 2nd-grader Kennedy Heavrin, she filled two stockings with a snowman stuffed animal, toy cars and yo-yo’s.
“I learned that its special to help out people and to be glad for what you have,” said 2nd-grader Jaxson Lesueur, who brought in three boy stockings, three girl stockings and three stockings for the reservation’s elders.
According to Ingle, students were able to correspond with Rose by sending her letters. She said students who are now in fifth-grade also wrote letters to Rose when they were in second-grade.
“We talk about Grandma Helen Rose and how she lives in a house with no electricity and no running water, and about how fortunate we are to live in Park City and to give back,” Ingle said.