August 3, 2024 – The new school year brought an exciting start for students at Sierra Vista Elementary School when the Clovis Elks Lodge generously offered to donate backpacks and school supplies to all the students within the school.
This was part of an effort made by Steve Majors, Chairman of Elks Lodge 2599, who began the program giving backpacks and school supplies to students within Clovis Unified last year.
On Friday, August 30, students from one of Sierra Vista’s classes went to thank the Elks Lodge and take pictures with them.
Last year, Majors organized an event to give backpacks and school supplies to students at Tarpey Elementary. This year, he put his efforts towards Sierra Vista, taking note of the major need they displayed for the supplies.
However, Majors refused to take full credit for putting together the donation – he also showed immense gratitude towards community supporters with those who donated or put money towards the supplies.
He explained, “We had so much participation from the community, it was awesome. A lot of businesses, a lot of merchants kicked in some unbelievable dollars to help us do this, plus the grant from our Grand Lodge allowed us to do this, and we have money left over.”
Majors explained that he received support not only from the grant from the Grand Lodge, but additionally through private citizens, local merchants, and fellow Elks members.
He excitedly mentioned as well that next year, the Lodge looks forward to providing supplies to not just one, but two schools because of the incredible support they’ve received.
Additionally, the Elks Lodge plans to support Sierra Vista even further by participating in their annual Trunk-or-Treat as well as a fundraising pancake breakfast for students and their families.
The class selected for a photo with the Elks Lodge members was Michael Williamson’s, a fourth-grade teacher with a grateful heart for the community support they received from the Elks and others.
Williamson expressed gratitude not only for the Elks Lodge giving the supplies, but also for filling backpacks with the appropriate materials for their individual grade level, ranging from TK to 6th grade.
He stated, “[The donation] freed up some of the school’s budget to then be able to hire additional staff members or additional activities to help provide our students with what they need.”
He also added that the Clovis Elks made the backpacks available to students on the first day of school. He stated, “As soon as they walked in, [the backpacks] were ready to go for the kids. Each class had probably 12 different styles of backpacks and they got to pick which ones they wanted.”
Considering that Sierra Vista is a Title 1 school, with around 90% of the students coming from economically disadvantaged families, this kind of support is crucial. Williamson wanted his students to know that “they deserve just as much as every other student in Clovis Unified gets.”
Principal Jennifer Thao expressed similar thoughts, stating that she wants students to know that regardless of their background, they are able to succeed.
She stated, “It doesn’t matter what walk of life you came from … In a diverse school like this, whether you’re in general education, special education, whatever program it is, we love them all.”
Thao takes this idea seriously and works especially hard in her role to ensure that students have the best opportunities available to them. She explained wanting to display a positive learning environment for students and providing them with good role models to help them grow into better human beings.
She commended Mr. Williamson as well as the other staff within the school for serving as those role models, stating, “The best thing about this school is that the staff here is so passionate about taking care of these kids, like [Williamson], many of them teachers, and not just the teachers but all the support staff.”
Williamson’s class, as well as other classes, also were taught gratitude for the supplies as well. They wrote thank-you cards, drew pictures, and made other crafts to provide as a thank-you to the members of the Lodge.
Sierra Vista shows an immense amount of gratefulness for the generosity of the Elks Lodge and others to provide this support for them, and looks forward to future involvement with them and the community.