Benefit helps teens travel

Seeing a Broadway play, visiting the Statue of Liberty, walking through Arlington Cemetery, touching the Vietnam Memorial – these are the goals of group of Mark Twain Middle School students planning a trip to the East Coast in June.

Donna Bahr, a teacher at the school, leads a group of 7th and 8th graders on an 11-day trip every other year. The 2010 group will visit New York City, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania Amish country and many other historic and cultural sites. Many of the students have not ventured far out of their own state, so the exposure can be significant, she said.

Students have invested hours working to earn money for the trip, as they pay their own way. Their biggest fundraising effort is a dinner and auction at Immanuel Lutheran Church on Saturday, Feb. 6.

Community members interested in supporting the students are encouraged to attend the dinner and auction, donate an item or service to be auctioned or make a cash contribution. For more information contact Sue Munson at 503-949-3248 or Shana Chandler at 503-873-7696.

Kissing the pig is perhaps the most popular fundraising effort. Students will circulate jars with contestants names to collect cash. If you would like to see Dixon Bledsoe, director of SACA; Mark Hannon, Silverton High School principal; Les Keele, Mark Twain School principal; or Donna Bahr, Mark Twain teacher, plant one on a pig, come to the Feb. 23, SHS Varsity Girls Basketball Game. The kiss will take place at halftime. The winning ticket for the Traeger barbecue will be drawn at the game, too.

Other fundraising efforts have included yard work, bottle drives, Christmas wreath and butter braid sales, Christmas tree recycling, concessions at local middle school sporting events, babysitting and odd jobs.