Community News

Being Neighborly | Middle schoolers raised $2,000 for Basket Brigade

When the Thanksgiving Basket Brigade asked local schools to help collect food to provide Thanksgiving meals for families last year, six local students decided that donating a can or two just wasn’t enough.

With the help of Amy Sjolander, one of the moms, they became aware of how many people in Pierce County are hungry.

Lucas Nielsen, Ryder Gimse, Eli Kallenberger, Carter Mondau, Drew Paffrath and Jack Sjolander went door-to-door in neighborhoods to collect money to purchase items for the program.

They went as a group to ask neighbors for donations. Each boy spoke, providing hunger statistics for Pierce County, explaining how many people rely on federal SNAP benefits, and describing the effects of the government shutdown on food programs.

In 2024, as Artondale Elementary students, the boys raised $500 for the basket brigade. Now at Kopachuck Middle School, they netted $2,000 worth of food from area grocery stores this year.

Six Kopachuck Middle School students — Lucas Nielsen, Ryder Gimse, Eli Kallenberger, Carter Mondau, Drew Paffrath and Jack Sjolander — raised enough money to buy $2,000 worth of food to donate to the Basket Brigade this year. Photo courtesy of Amy Sjolander

Metropolitan Market and Costco each gave them gift cards to shop in the respective stores, and shoppers took notice. One shopper added a case of cranberries to her cart to donate.

Stephanie Gimse, whose son Ryder is part of the group, credited Amy Sjolander for devoting a lot of time to the project. She worked with them to prepare a speech to present to prospective donors on hunger statistics in Pierce County and also drove them to stores to purchase the items.

“She has done a really great job,” Gimse said.

Sjolander was happy to help with the project.

“This is a good group of kids,” Sjolander said. “They are very sensitive, and kind.”

Sjolander wasn’t sure the boys would want to continue the project after advancing to middle school. To her surprise, each one was enthusiastic about being involved. They even recruited another friend to join them.

Sjolander said the boys are learning about socio-economic issues, business, and math while also connecting with neighbors and serving the community.

“One of the ladies they visited for a donation was a grandmother, and she was telling the kids that her dad was a logger, and the government would bring them cheese,” Amy said. “It was a really cool story, from someone they knew who was hungry, and remembers what it felt like to get food. That’s been neat about this project. It has touched a lot of people in different ways and educated all of us to be sensitive to the need.”

Shopping and paying for the food was the boys’ responsibility, she said.

“They help bag it, and load it, and I try to put as much in their hands as possible,” she said.

The boys plan to do it all again next year. Sjolander said her personal goal is to keep encouraging their mindset of social awareness and the importance of giving back to the community.