As we continue to battle the winter blues, the United Way of the Eastern U.P. is teaming up with nearly two dozen Malcolm High School and Sault Middle School students to make a person’s day brighter with the “Duck Hunt to Happiness” event.
It's a community service project to help the students create ways to cheer people up.
With each rubber duck, a special, positive quote is included along with a sticker.
The quotes, all 325 of them, were written by the students at Malcolm.
"It was nice writing them because I remember some of them. Then sometimes I think of them and think that it was a nice quote," said Addie Schumacher. "It was nice knowing that it was going toward for making other people feel better."
Schumacher, a senior at Malcolm, also likes the fact that projects like this get the students away from the everyday studies of daily subjects.
Laurie Morley, who is the Native American Advisor at Malcolm, says she tries to get the students involved in community service projects at least once a month.
"We try to get the students very involved in community activities, so we are always looking for community service. I work with Jade Teneyck at the United Way of the Eastern U.P. so anytime she has a perfect fit for the students to do, it makes it easier," Morley said.
Morley says it's more than just a community service project.
"It was really fun to see the students write the quotes," Morley said. "It definitely warmed their hearts knowing they (the quotes) will make someone's day brighter. That was really neat to see."
Teneyck, who is the program assistant at the United Way of the EUP, said this is the right time for a project like this.
"We have such a long winter, and people get sad and depressed. So we got rubber duckies and stickers to go along with the positive quotes," Teneyck said. "After reading all the quotes, I typed them out. And believe it or not, there were only a couple of quotes that were the same."
"When we are doing these projects, we can say Malcolm students and the middle school students did this, so members of the community know that they are doing something positive," she added.
Duck Grams will be delivered Feb. 17.
Other volunteers at Sault Middle School SAIL (Sault Alternative Innovative Learners) will be “ducking” random people throughout the day on Feb. 23.
The cost per “duck” is $10. A five pack of ducks is $45 and a ten pack of ducks is $80.
The money raised will go to the United Way of the EUP
To order your ducks online, click here.
