(Published in the Aug 15th Warroad Pioneer)
I’m excited to be able to announce that through the multiple efforts around Angle Days, our small community raised nearly $900 for the Angle Inlet School supply drive.
Working with long-time teacher Linda LaMie, we identified a list of seven key needs for the coming school year. Never having organized anything like this before, I fully expected to be collecting crayons, tissues and glue sticks, but when she started explaining that the rough-cut flag pool rips every flag they hoist to shreds in very short order, I knew we had to do something different than ask folks to stop at the local dollar store for colored pencils. The rusted-out basketball backboard and bent rim haven’t been functional for years. The windows need curtains. There’s no bell to call the kids back from recess. Storage space is in short supply, so the kids keep extra bags hanging from their desks for their library books and other supplies.
Paraprofessional Samantha Shoen had already been compiling a wish list of 74 titles for the school’s small book collection, so we used that to make a Library Book Giving Tree and displayed it at the Fish Fry and the Main Events of Angle Days. Nineteen tags were taken from the tree by generous folk and already the local UPS man is delivering book size packages to the school.
We built an Angle Days display asking folks to please support our school, and people stepped up.
Jerry’s Restaurant hosted a free community breakfast collecting donations for the school. Bill Knight donated his personal earnings from his band The Knightlighters, who played at Angle Days. Cynthia Johnston purchased curtains. Deb Butler worked with the Warroad VFW to secure potential funds. Tom Bolls committed to donating a military-grade United Stated flag and Darin Powell said he had a lead on a large second-hand flag pole. Angle Days donated all earnings from the Dunk Tank. Marvin’s Home Center hosted a donation collection point as well.
It all added up.
Now, we need to gather some volunteers to make the purchases, transport them here and get them installed before the school year starts in a few short weeks.
After the schoolboard voted in June to infuse $100K into the aging building, we’re finally going to see a new roof, siding, ceiling, windows, carpet, and more. While wonderful news, the smaller details and creature comforts Mrs. LaMie identified were simply overlooked. The schoolhouse has been under construction this whole summer, meaning Mrs. LaMie doesn’t know exactly what she’ll be coming back to.
My hope is that we can work with her and District Maintenance Supervisor Kelly Klein to offer up a community force to help put the school back to rights and install the new items our fundraising will go towards.
“The Angle Kids” have their own account at Citizens State Bank in Roseau. If you feel called to give, you can make a donation there. If you feel called to help in the next few weeks, get in touch with me at 218-689-3327 or kellieknight@outlook.com.
It is youth empowerment advocate Anthony J. D’Angelo who said, “Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.” Thank you, friends and neighbors, for caring about our community and for supporting our school.
Kellie Knight’s “Angle Full of Grace” 