Roseville's Merryhill Elementary donates 200+ items to Acres of Hope

Students at Roseville's Merryhill Elementary School learned the importance of helping their community through a donation drive for local organization Acres of Hope. Acres of Hope is dedicated to serving at-risk women and children by offering many services to walk "families through the process of change, healing, and growth that they need to completely overcome the cycles of homelessness, trauma, addiction, and poverty," according to its website. "We do this using a holistic approach that addresses whole-person, whole-family health." Their center in Auburn offers services for families to help "build strength in our residents," such as licensed counseling, case management, structured daily schedules, monitored sobriety, life skills education, job resources and much more. Before beginning the donation drive, the school's student council selects two charities to propose to Principal Boby John, according to John. The school does two donation drives per year. This is the second donation drive Merryhill Elementary has done for Acres of Hope, the last one being in 2021. "We have partnered with Acres of Hope in the past and we value the opportunity to partner with a local organization that helps people in need," John said. Following John's approval, student council members reached out to the charities and asked them to make a 15- to 20-minute presentation about their cause. They also offered a Q&A session following their presentation. When donation collection began, students created flyers and other promotional materials to distribute to families and encourage participation, according to John. "We also asked our teachers to talk about the organization and encouraged students to participate in the donation drive," John said. Student council members worked diligently to gather donations, such as going from class to class and sharing what they learned about Acres of Hope and asking for donations in the car drop-off and pick-up lines in the morning and afternoon. Their efforts were fruitful, as more than 200 donations were collected for Acres of Hope. Donations included household items, toilet paper and paper towels, office supplies, and more. Students also organized the donations for delivery following the end of the collection period. "Our students thoroughly enjoy the charity events we do at our school," John said. "It is a great community event for our school."