FHS Students Raise Money for Family

For one local family with four children, Christmas was a little bit sweeter and a little more normal thanks to the generosity and hard work of some Farmington High School students.

The students, led by Junior Class President Sean Cruess, raised about $100 in gift cards and donations for the Farmington family, anonymously chosen by Nancy Parent, director of Community and Recreation Services.

It began with a desire to do something good for the community and without any prodding, lecturing or suggestions from an adult.

“We both feel very fortunate that Farmington has been so good to us,” said Max Ray, a junior who worked with Cruess on the effort. “We felt that since we have so much, it was right to give back."

Cruess was involved with student council during his sophomore year and heard about Farmington Cares Day, a day during which residents offer their time to help neighbors with tasks they are unable to complete. It might be yard work, repairs, construction or even just cleaning.

The day is organized by Farmington Community Chest, a local nonprofit that works to meet needs in the community. Jean Baron, a former Board of Education member and longtime school volunteer, was working to boost participation when it occurred to her to reach out to the high school.

When she did, response from the students was overwhelming, Baron said. “It allowed us to grow Farmington Cares Day in new ways and work with a really good group of kids.”

Farmington Cares Day helped the students realize there are people in town in need.

“It’s eye-opening to see some houses that really do need help in our neighborhoods,” Ray said. “And when you help someone, it’s nice to be able to see changes in the place you live.”

Once they had seen the need, the students wanted to do more. They approached Courtney Landheer, a teacher and student activities director at the high school, for ideas on how they could do more.

“These things already exist in the community and we looked at how can we marry the high school’s manpower with what exists in the community,” Landheer said.

The students officially formed a club, FHS Cares, to organize their efforts and talked to Community Chest about projects to focus their efforts into something beneficial for the town.

After a few smaller projects, the group settled on raising money for a family at Christmas. They began a letter-writing campaign to local businesses, then sent students out to present their plans.

Though the students only had a few weeks to plan and execute their plan, they came away with about $100 in donations from Naples that was used to buy a Stop & Shop gift card and Truffles donated a gift card, as well.

Baron said she’s amazed to see young people self-motivated and eager to give to their community.

“I’m just incredibly impressed. Farmington has always worked hard to instill community spirit in their students from kindergarten all the way up to twelfth grade,” Baron said. “We’re fostering great kids in this town.”

And they’re signed up to do more. Cruess and Ray are planning to appoint officers in the club and recruit underclassmen to keep it going when they graduate. You'll see them on the upcoming Farmington Cares Day, too.

“The community as a whole contributes to this ideology and it helps when everyone takes a minute to step back and realize how fortunate we are,” Cruess said.