RIVERTON, Utah — Holiday fundraisers at schools across the state are in full swing, including Oquirrh Hills Middle School in Riverton where the annual Oquirrhfest is underway.
"Oquirrhfest has been going on here for several years," explained principal Lisa Jackson. "They choose a different charity every year, kids are very involved in helping choose the charity, and they raise money, we do events, and they have an incentive to raise money,"
This year, students are looking to raise $20,240 in honor of 2024. As of Monday, the school has brought in over $10,000 through a variety of fundraising efforts such as soda sales, games, rubber duckies, and more.
"We carol in front of our local grocery store, Peterson's, we raise on average $300 a day when we do that," Anderson said. "We have a very big event that we do every year called family fun night."
All the money raised this year is going to The Christmas Box International, a non-profit organization that partners with groups at various levels to help kids and teens who are facing tough struggles.
"We chose The Christmas Box International because we thought the kids, or the students, at the school needed to more understand what it was and they needed to kind of relate to the charity that we're doing," said Harvey Moody with the school.
"We work with the state of Utah to bring children into the Christmas Box Houses which are shelters for abused and neglected children," said Celeste Edmunds with The Christmas Box International.
For the students, it feels good to give back, especially during the holiday season.
"It's such a good feeling," said SBO Elyse Wahlen. "It's just so awesome to see how much our school and our community adds to it and it's just so awesome to see all the service that we've done."
CLICK HERE to help Oquirrh Hills meet its fundraising goal.
