This fourth grade class gave their prize money to charity

Recently the Linn Grove Parent Teacher Organization held a contest to see which classroom could bring in the most Hy-Vee Receipts through the Hy-Vee Cash 4 Students fundraising program, which allows schools to earn money by collecting receipts.

Mrs. Rasmussen’s fourth-grade class — the winning class this year — chose to celebrate in a truly heartwarming way.

The winning Linn Grove Elementary School classroom was given their choice of celebration, with a maximum limit of $50. In the past, students chose celebrating with pizza, ice cream, popcorn and a movie, or by purchasing indoor recess items for their classroom.

The students in Mrs. Rasmussen’s class had an amazing discussions and even did some research before deciding to donate the majority of their winnings to charity.

The class spent days debating whether to donate a portion of the prize money to a children’s hospital or animal shelter, in addition to $20 spent on a doughnuts party for the classroom. That’s enough for each student to have two Munchkin doughnut holes from Dunkin’ Donuts.

Mrs. Rasmussen was so moved by the children’s debate that she decided to donate the doughnuts, so the students could give the entire $50 to charity.

The final decision was to donate $25 to Last Hope Animal Rescue and $25 to UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital. The students were pretty adamant that Mrs. Rasmussen find pediatric patients who would benefit from the $25 donation.