Students fill bus with toys for tots

A crowded school bus can be rather hectic. But earlier this month a jam-packed bus was bursting at the seams’and many are pretty happy.
The Goodrich High School Student Council joined a county-wide fundraiser titled ‘Fill the Bus.? The fundraiser, created by Toys for Tots, includes all of the schools involved in the Genesee Area Conference Student Council, which employs four or five students from each student council to represent their school. The participating GAC representatives from Goodrich were seniors Kayla Kurdyla, Lindsey Poppeck, Elizabeth Lawer, and Renate Hanschmann. The students raised money for the Toys for Tots campaign with a ‘hat day,? a day where students could donate $1 to wear a hat to school, which is forbidden any other day at school.
These students, selected from the rest of Goodrich’s student council because of their leadership positions within the council, were in charge of raising enough money to sustain their part of ‘filling the bus.?
‘The fundraiser was successful,? said Hanschmann. ‘We raised around $400 from that and had a litte money put away, making the total come out to over $500.?
The four students spent a few hours the day before picking out toys and games they thought the kids would like at Toys ‘R? Us.
‘We bought all sorts of different toys. We had really cool, huge dollhouses last year,? said Kurdyla.
On the day of the fundraiser, six schools from across Genesee County that participate in the GAC student council, including Goodrich, showed up to stuff the bus. After the students from schools which included Genesee, Mt. Morris, and Lake Fenton filled the bus, the toys were driven to the Toys for Tots location in Genesee County, which will then distribute the toys around the county.
‘It was very successful overall,? said Kurdyla. ‘We didn’t actually fill the bus completely, but with all the schools combined, I’m pretty sure we had at least $1,500 worth of toys to give to such a great cause.?