Students raise funds for bird group
<p>Holy Family Catholic School eighth-grader Vanjie Matoy, left presents $230 to Blake Schioberg from Birds of Prey Northwest. The funds were raised by Holy Family students as part of Matoy's Principal for a Day community service project</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Holy Family Catholic School students recently raised $230 for the nonprofit Birds of Prey Northwest.
The funds were raised through eighth-grader Vanjie Matoy's Principal for a Day community service project.
To honor the school's mascot, the hawk, the school adopted a red-tailed hawk from Birds of Prey and raised enough money to feed the bird for 45 days.
After soliciting ideas from the student body, Matoy named the adopted hawk Kevin Scout Huntsman.
Birds of Prey has visited schools for more than 13 years, teaching students about and to appreciate hawks, falcons, eagles and owls as well as how to properly rescue an injured bird.
On average, the organization cares for 20 to 30 birds at a time, returning 50 percent of them to the wild. Birds of Prey recently lost its donated food source and is looking for help in maintaining its program.
Holy Family is the first local school that has held a fundraiser for Birds of Prey.