Moniteau students collect 1,700 rolls of gift wrapping paper in weeks before Christmas
Before the effort to collect packaging supplies for Christmas gifts was all wrapped up at Moniteau School District, students at Moniteau Jr./Sr. High School and Dassa McKinney Elementary School collectively gathered more than 1,700 rolls of wrapping paper.
The drive, which organizers say started as a notion to do something “small” for families in need, quickly gained traction, ensuring that toys collected in another initiative will be delivered come Christmas morning in colorful wrapping.
“They haven’t done anything like this in the past, and it really came into fruition just a couple weeks ago,” said school board member Kathy McBride, “and boom, here we are with all this wrapping paper and tape.”
The wrapping paper drive, in its first year, encouraged high school and elementary students alike to collect paper and other gift-wrapping supplies from mid-November through Dec. 4. The collected items will be used to wrap gifts for children and families in need.
Between the two schools, students ended up donating 1,709 rolls of wrapping paper.
McBride, owner of McBride’s Pizza Shop, holds a toy drive annually. The wrapping paper will benefit the families who receive toys from that drive.
“Really it was just a couple weeks ago; they just kind of brainstormed and came up with a way to get the kids involved,” McBride said.
The team of Moniteau faculty, largely from the guidance departments at the elementary school and high school, helped brainstorm the idea. Jeremy Borkowski, a teacher at the high school, said the school and community have put in effort to come together to support each other in recent years.
McBride then sweetened the pot, promising whichever homeroom collected the most wrapping paper and tape would get a pizza party, thrown by McBride’s Pizza Shop.
She gave credit to Moniteau’s administration for looking for a way to meet children’s needs.
“Just by brainstorming at the conference room at the high school, they said on the fly ‘Hey, how can we get these kids involved?’ And we decided to have them bring in wrapping paper. It was that quick,” McBride said.
Borkowski said McBride, as well as other groups, help gather toys and gifts for the children. A group of about 40 high school students plans to stay after school to help wrap the gifts. Toys will then be ready for distribution to families who reached out. Wrapping paper is being stored in an empty classroom at the high school.
“For them to so wholeheartedly participate, it’s really incredible,” Borkowski said.
This won’t be a one-year thing. The faculty members who helped out with the drive will also look toward the future and think of ways they can continue helping families in need. For future holidays, this becomes easier with all the extra wrapping paper.
“We wanted to start off with something small this year; we thought wrapping paper would be a good way to do that, and then figure out how to build on that year to year,” Borkowski said.
At the time of the conversation, Borkowski said the toys weren’t yet wrapped, but he anticipated there’d be extra paper.
“I would assume we’re going to have a lot left over for next year,” he said. “So it’s going to be nice next year to focus on something different.”
