‘Kids helping kids’ at Amazing Grace Academy toy drive

PALMER — Students at Amazing Grace Academy in Palmer purchased toys for other kids in the community for the third year in a row. As part of the school’s annual Spirit Week activities, students donated about $1 a day to buy toys.

On Friday morning, the students headed out to Target in Wasilla to shop. Groups of students ranging from pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade were given equal amounts of money. Each group then decided what toys to buy with their allotment.

The toys were then taken back to the school where they were presented to Betsy Woodin, from Alaska Center for Resource Families, an organization that helps provide support for families and children in crisis.

The unusual part of this program is that the students get to choose the toys by themselves, without adult input. Kids buying toys for kids is an effective way to insure that the toys are ones that will be wanted and used by the recipients. The students all benefit by seeing in a tangible way how they can help others in this Christmas season.

Amazing Grace Academy in Palmer is operated as a part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

For more information, contact 745-2691 or amazinggraceacademy.org.