By Rhys Baker

Seventy-five Clay Center Community Middle School (CCCMS) students will be touring the Home of the Royals Baseball Team – Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday, December 17th, as part of a fundraising incentive offered by CCCMS Parent Educator Partnership or PEP. Special Education Teacher and CCCMS Building PEP representative Alisha Brownell says CCCMS PEP hosts a fundraiser every three years, “The last time we did it, we did not get a lot of student participation. And it could have been because COVID was widespread. So this time, we thought we would offer a big incentive for kids to get involved and help us raise money.”

The PEP organization worked with a fundraising company called Believe Kids. Students sold cookie dough from Otis Spunkmeyer and had a catalog of items that community members could order. PEP and Believe Kids decided that if a student sold 12 or more items, they would take a trip to Kansas City to tour Kauffman Stadium. Students raised over $13,000 overall during the two-week selling period. Brownell says the funds will be used over the next three years, “In the past, we have in the budget to buy $1,000 worth of books each year for our library. The 8th graders will paint the tile, and they get put up on a wall in the hall. We’re looking at getting some new mats in the gym. Now, we are considering giving or purchasing items for the teachers to use in their classrooms.”

Brownell and the CCCMS PEP are very thankful to the community members who participated in the fundraiser. This means extra dollars that can be used throughout CCCMS and in the classroom, and it also allows 75 CCCMS students to tour Kaufmann Stadium and see all the behind-the-scenes areas that not everyone gets to see.