Pajamas donated to bring Christmas cheer
<p>Noxon first graders show off some of the pajamas they collected during the Great Bedtime Story Pajama Drive for the Scholastic Reading Program.</p>
NOXON – Noxon’s first graders collected pajamas throughout December to help kids in need, and spread the holiday spirit of giving, as part of the Scholastic Reading Program’s Great Bedtime Story Pajama Drive.
The class collected all sizes of pajamas, though it was asked that everything be brand new. The guidelines of the drive requested that pajamas be donated as a complete set or nightgown; for children’s sizes, the donations were required to be manufactured as pajamas to ensure they had fire retardant treatments as well as being safe to sleep in.
There are approximately 11 kids in Noxon’s first grade class. However, the whole school and community rose to the occasion to help with the drive; Kathy Fitchett, the first grade teacher at Noxon, recalled students from all the grades brought in donations.
“I haven’t counted them yet, but it looks like we have close to 30,” she said near the end of the drive.
The students collected pajamas up until mid-December, so the pajamas and books could be available at Christmas time. After the drive ended, Fitchett said her students celebrated with a pajama party.
She also felt the drive happening around Christmas made a good Christmas time educational experience for the kids.
“They really like it,” she said. “It kind of fosters the idea of giving rather than receiving.”
As part of the program, after the drive Scholastic planned to match the pajamas collected with a donation of books to be donated somewhere in the area. According to Fitchett, the school always tries to make their donations to local groups.
For the last two years, the donations have gone to the Missoula Children’s Center and the Noxon Community Center.
This drive benefits the Pajama Program, a nonprofit organization that helps children in need get new pajamas and books to read. They especially try to help children living in group homes, shelters, foster care and orphanages.
According to information about the pajama drive, since 2009 schools have donated nearly 350,000 pairs of pajamas with Scholastic giving a matching donation of approximately 700,000 books.
This is the fourth year Noxon has participated in the drive. Fitchett noted they have done better each year and progressively improved their final count; she said it almost doubles each year and the community gets more involved all the time.
“I guess people are getting used to us doing it now,” she said.