'A big good deeds museum'

One good deed in a community is like a pebble in a pond — causing far-reaching ripples.

Sixth graders at Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy started a wave of good through Kootenai County by performing good deeds in their neighborhoods for a school project, and even they were shocked by the impact. 

“Honestly I didn’t expect too much because I didn’t know if a lot of people would donate,” said sixth grader Ari Leferink. “But then I was surprised when I got a lot of donations. Every day I went outside and asked, ‘anymore donations?’ I was excited to check and see if I got things.” 

For her good deed project, Ari distributed fliers in her neighborhood asking for donations for Children’s Village. She received boxes and boxes of donations: a paint set, bags of baby clothes, blankets, toys, games, board games and books. 

“I decided on the Children’s Village because every Christmas year I’m always excited to open presents, and then I realized that children don’t really have many toys or gifts like us,” Ari said. “So I decided to donate to the children that don’t.” 

Wednesday night, she and the other sixth graders presented their experience to a crowd of hundreds of parents and kids. 

“It’s like a big good deeds museum,” Ari said. 

As her friends arrived at their presentation boards, Ari excitedly pointed out what they did for the community, too. 

Her friend and classmate Isabella Baker gather more than 100 cans of food to donate to a food bank. The food bank staff told her it would feed about 30 families with two kids each. 

Isabella’s favorite moment in the project was gathering cans. 

“One time, I went to a lady’s house and when she opened her door and handed me the cans and she was like, ‘God bless you and thank you for doing this’,” Isabella said. “It was really fun.” 

Ari navigated through a crowd of parents to show off her friend Arden Mickelson’s project, too. Arden baked dog biscuits and gave them to each of the 48 dogs in the Companions Animal Shelter. 

“I really liked seeing all the dogs there, but it was also sad,” Arden said. 

While she was giving biscuits to each dog, she overheard administrators turning away animals. 

“They had to deny a lot of people on the phone, I heard," Arden said. "Because they didn’t have enough kennels for all the dogs."

To support the shelter, Arden brought fliers from the Companions Animal Shelter to display with her board. While she talked about her experience, she encouraged people to adopt and gave out fliers. 

“Adopt, don’t shop,” Arden said. 

Each student presented a unique idea and they ranged from small and close to home to broad and expansive.

“Students helped the Children’s Village, multiple food banks, the children’s hospitals, libraries, the humane society, elderly ... and spread other acts of kindness throughout our community,” said sixth grade language arts teacher Stacey Peppin. 

This was Peppin’s fifth year participating in the good deeds fair with her students. 

“I hope they will be inspired to volunteer throughout their lifetime, and inspire all of us as well,” she said. “I have an exchange student from Denmark, and Hygge is what they do in Denmark as a good feeling. Seeing the kids do something, they have a good feeling about it.”

Each year Peppin is surprised by what the students are able to accomplish. 

This year one student raised money by mowing lawns, then she bought food to donate to food banks. Another girl made 300 bracelets and brought them to the Sacred Heart children’s hospital.

“One family, they got donations somehow, and they took an old trailer and refurbished it,” Peppin said. “They gave it to a neighbor who had a house that was cold and didn’t have a place to live.”

Another girl was able to gather 12,000 pounds of food, using support from her mother’s business, to donate to local food banks. 

Another student had a broken thumb but for his good deed he went out and raked. 

“Everyone else who comes here is like, ‘wow, there’s actually something positive in this world,’” Peppin said. “I think that’s what I love about this. It’s such a positive way in our community for kids to see they can do something positive in our community.”

For a lot of the good deeds the community provided key support, so the positive energy spreads far beyond the students. People showed up en masse to make donations or share resources. 

“I don’t know how to recognize those who did show up,” Ari’s mother Natisa Leferink said. Leferink wished there was some way to thank her neighbors, she said, who all contributed so much anonymously.

    Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy language arts teacher Stacey Peppin listens to a student present his good deed board Wednesday. This was Peppin's fifth year participating in a school wide good deed project where sixth graders do good deeds in their community, then present them to parents.
  

    Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy sixth grader Isabella Baker gathered over 100 cans of food donations for a local food bank for her good deed project. She presented the experience Wednesday to her friends, classmates and their parents.
  

    Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy sixth grader Arden Mickelson presents her good deed project Wednesday. She baked biscuits for 48 dogs at Companions Animal Shelter for her project.
  

    Sixth grader Ari Leferink poses with the loot she gathered from a donation drive in her neighborhood for the Children's Village.