Fugett Middle School Brightens the Holidays for a Family in Need

Students and staff at Fugett Middle School are not strangers to helping their fellow community members.  By partnering with the organization Bringing Hope Home (BHH), they’ve raised money to help local families who are battling cancer this holiday season. This partnership was developed by Fugett’s Changes Council, a committee of teachers and administrators dedicated to making a positive impact on the health and well-being of FMS students and staff. 

“Our first event this year was to raise money for the Adopt-a-Family program,” said Kerry Montgomery, a science teacher and BHH lead advisor at FMS. “We formed a student Hope Squad consisting of student volunteers from all three grades with teacher advisors for each grade, and met with them during lunch and after school to brainstorm ideas.” The students were creative with their ideas and worked diligently to make them successful. They weren’t disappointed with the results; they raised over $3,000 from three fundraisers.

This year the school adopted a New Jersey family that had submitted a grant request to Bringing Hope Home. The family of five needed help with household expenses and holiday gifts for their three children. One of the children, nine-year-old Nico, has been battling cancer.

Montgomery was happy to share that they were able to get the family everything on its holiday wish list, as well as generous gift cards to various places. Along with Katie Prilutski, an English teacher at FMS, Montgomery delivered the gifts to Nico’s family home. His mother talked with the teachers for a while and let them know that Nico is near the end of his fight; his latest scan showing the cancer has spread. She asked the teachers to share a message of thanks to Fugett Middle School, saying they “are blessed beyond expectation, and it’s going to be a wonderful Christmas!”

During the first week of June 2017, Fugett and BHH will hold the “FMS/BHH Relay for Hope,” a school-wide event that raised almost $15,000 last year. To date, Fugett Middle School has raised over $25,000 for Bringing Hope Home in just the past three years, proving that they do make a positive impact for so many lives.