From Bow ties to exotic animals

Each student at Medicine Bow Elementary was given bright teal shirts with the words "Earth Day" written across the front. They wore those shirts while they spent the day cleaning up their town.

To the student's dismay, they couldn't keep the shirts just yet. So they handed their shirts to teachers Shelley Cooper and Heather Booth, who gave it to the secretary Courtney Priest.

"If we let the kids keep them, we might not get them back," Priest said jokingly. "They will wear these shirts to school every day, until the day that we head down to the Zoo."

On May 30 of this year, staff at Medicine Bow Elementary will take all 23 students down to the Denver Zoo; a three-hour drive. They will be wearing their vibrant teal shirts so teachers can keep track of their students in the midst of the Zoo's crowd.

But the Earth Day shirts cost money. A trip to Denver isn't cheap. And the school's activity fund was running low.

"We do little fundraisers [for the activity fund]," Priest said. "Generally, because we realize that a lot of the families around here are on fixed incomes, we only get a dollar or two here and there ... we usually make $25 to $40 dollars with each of these fundraisers, and that was how we were feeding the activity fund."

They had reached $100 with a fundraiser (one month), but it still was not enough to do all of the activities they wanted. The school only had an estimated $400 in the fund.

When people attended a Medicine Bow Community Educational Organization (CEO) meeting, the opportunity to increase their coffers was discussed.

The Fundraiser

"I came to one of their meetings, I was listened to some of the things that were going on, and they were talking about their activity fund," Mayor of Medicine Bow and volunteer fireman Kevin Colman said. "We saw (the fund) was not growing."

Kevin had an idea: they were going to raise money for their town's only school.

"Between the Lions Club, the Fire Department and the American Legion, our fundraisers bring anywhere between $500 a pop. So I figured if we get all three together, that takes the burden off one small group of people," Kevin said.

Kevin Colman first contacted members of the fire department, which included his parents Kenda and James, and his wife Stephanie.

"They were an easy sell," Kevin said. "When you are related to 40-percent of the fire department, it's easier to twist their arms a bit."

"He came back to the fire department and he said 'I think we should do something. And I'm going to approach some other organizations," Stephanie Colman said.

Kenda said they wanted to do a community breakfast of some kind to raise money.

"We talked about doing pancakes, but no one had a grill big enough to cook pancakes in a large enough quantity," Kenda said. "So we decided on sausage and gravy, then we decided to also cook eggs and bacon."

While the menu expanded, so did donations. Members of the Order of the Eastern Star and American Legion Auxiliary helped set up the breakfast and made financial contributions. Businesses in Carbon County and Laramie, along with Medicine Bow residents, donated gifts to start a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle.

"It was one of those things that started out small and just blossomed," Kenda said.

On the day of the fundraiser, there was an estimated 60 people in attendance, many of whom hailed from all over the region. Items like candy and jars of jelly sold for upwards of $30 at the silent auction, thanks to generous bidders. The winner of the 50/50 raffle donated his winnings back to the activity funds.

"The gifts were astronomical," Kevin said. "A pound of Jelly Belly's went for $25.50 ... we actually did very well with the small gifts we had donated from businesses in Laramie as well as local businesses. I was amazed how well we actually did."

Both Cooper and Booth said they were incredibly grateful for the donation.

"They really took the bull by the horns with this fundraiser," Cooper said.

Kevin said they were still collecting the money from donors, but they estimate they raised anywhere from $1,000 to $1,200 for the student's activity fund.

Med Bow ties

All of the fundraiser organizers have strong ties to Medicine Bow. Not only are they residents of the tight-knit community with a small population of 284, many are Medicine Bow High School graduates, or had children who went to Medicine Bow.

Of the seven organizers who were interviewed, there were two Medicine Bow graduates and three parents of former students.

None of them have a child currently enrolled at Medicine Bow Elementary.

Lions Club member and 1952 Medicine Bow High School Graduate Don Mayfield said that didn't matter.The fundraiser was about the the community, not just themselves.

"That is the one thing about this school is that when we had the high school here, community support was always a great thing," Kenda said. "They've always been great to support the school, and that showed again with this breakfast. People here are ready to help you out if you have a reason to do so."

When Medicine Bow High School closed in 1998, local residents were no longer able to support their community through sports. For long-time residents like the Colmans, supporting their school, in any capacity, is something that Medicine Bow residents still desire.

"I think that's something that the community misses is coming out and supporting their school, give them something to rally around," Stephanie said.

Kevin said he remembered being a student at Medicine Bow, that feeling of being away from the rest of the state. He figured anything he could do to help these kids experience the world was well worth it.

"Really, I think because of the activity fund, and you look around at some of the kids here, it gives them the opportunity to go do a lot of things," he said. "A lot of these kids may not get that opportunity [to go to the Zoo] otherwise."

But now, Medicine Bow Elementary students will make the long bus trip to Denver and back. They will get to go to a city nearly 2,000-times larger than their hometown. They will get to see exotic animals.

They will get to do all of this while wearing their bright teal Earth Day shirts, which they will finally be able to keep.