|
by LAUREN LAWSON
News Reporter
People walking into Lowe’s Home Improvement in Boone might be surprised by the new wall display featuring over 2,500 green and gold shamrocks all bought by customers and Lowe’s employees to go toward Jerry’s Kids.
Jerry’s Kids is part of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, an organization that focuses on working to fight muscular dystrophy and other diseases of the nervous and muscular system by funding research, providing medical and community services and through widespread education.
According to MDA’s
Web site, this particular event called Shamrocks Against Dystrophy is a
St. Patrick’s Day fundraiser held annually by restaurants, bars,
retailers and businesses to help people with neuromuscular diseases.
The
shamrocks can be purchased for either $1 or $5, however, any amount can
be donated, and they can be signed for any person’s name and then
displayed in the sponsoring business, Kellie L. Warren, senior
sociology major and Lowe’s employee for over two years said.
“Last
year we only sold like 10, but this year we had a lot of people such as
administrators and managers encouraging us to sell a lot,” Warren said.
She said they began the fundraiser mid-February and it will continue through March 17.
“We have already raised over $2,600 and our goal is $3,200,” Warren said.
She said
to encourage employees, the management started a friendly competition
between Boone’s local Lowe’s Home Improvement and the Lowe’s in Banner
Elk and West Jefferson.
“Currently
we are in first place,” Warren said. “We keep track of how many the
store as a whole has sold as well as individual employee’s number of
shamrock sales.”
As of
Sunday, Appalachian State University alumna Katie Carr is in first
place, sophomore accounting major Justin W. Knight is in second and
Warren is in third.
“We’re
motivated because we are helping kids in need and getting the community
involved in a big organization…and we want to beat Banner Elk,” Warren
said.
According
to the MDA, Lowe’s Home Improvement is one of over 190 organizations
sponsoring this fundraising event for Jerry’s Kids.
MDA also
hosts an annual telethon that receives a large amount of attention and
includes celebrities such as Jerry Lewis, MDA’s national chairman.
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Show/Hide comments