'Kids Helping Kids' Campaign Raises $50,000 for Victims of Nebraska Flood

FREMONT, Neb., May 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of children across the United States paid $1 each to wear their hats to school and raise money to help children in Fremont, Nebraska, who lost belongings in a record-setting flood that buried bridges and left hundreds homeless.

"Kids Helping Kids – Wear a Hat for Fremont Day" was started by award-winning children's author Julia Cook, who lives in Fremont.

"I was on a book tour visiting schools when I first learned about the flood. Pictures of my neighbors filling sandbags and frantically helping other neighbors showed up on my social media feeds," said Cook, who has written a book to help kids cope with disaster.

Cook was heartbroken that she wasn't there to help, so she started a Facebook campaign, hoping to reach a few schools and raise $5,000.  The campaign ended up bringing in more than 10 times that much through the 83 schools that participated.

"All this is possible because the kids in this country really do care about each other," said Cook.

One of the schools that raised the most money is Patriot Elementary in Papillion, Nebraska.

"We were already planning a fundraising campaign and looking for a cause. When I saw Julia's post, I knew we'd found it," said counselor Katie Boyle, who, along with teachers Jenna Wiest and Melissa Nelson, helped her students expand the campaign into a weeklong event.

Donations will pay for:

• More then 400 pairs of shoes for kids who lost theirs during the flood
• Replacement items such as bicycles, clothes, toys
• One thousand "comfort kits," each filled with a teddy bear, pens, pencils, a notebook and a book by Cook donated by a Nebraska bank

"The flood hit our poverty areas the worst, so these kids didn't have a lot to begin with. We can't replace everything they lost in the flood, but we can provide them some comfort items to give them hope," said Shawn Shanahan, executive director of Fremont's United Way, who is supervising volunteer efforts to distribute the supplies. 

Items will be delivered to schools the mornings of Monday, May 6, and Tuesday, May 7.

SOURCE Julia Cook

Related Links

https://www.juliacookonline.com