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A group of third-grade friends at Luverne Elementary School are selling bookmarks and bracelets and giving the proceeds to local organizations and families.
The Bookmark and Bracelet Club, organized just after the school’s Christmas break, was Harper Phelps’ idea.
“I wanted to help people with good deeds,” she said last week. “For people in need to get better.”
Fourteen girls are in the club with Phelps elected as club president.
Isley Smith is one of the group’s communication directors.
She said she noticed a bookmark Phelps designed and brought to class one day. A fellow reading enthusiast, Smith was immediately excited about the eye-catching bookmark.
“It had drippy stuff coming down and sparkles,” Smith said.
Other school friends also noticed and soon all 14 club members were putting their creative minds together, designing bookmarks and making bracelets from tiny, brightly colored rubber bands.
The group stays in contact through Sunday afternoon Zoom meetings, where the girls decide where their next sale will take place and who the benefactor will be.
They also take inventory of the bookmarks and bracelets they have available for sale. They sell the bookmarks for $1, bracelets for $1.50, or one of each for $2.
The club has conducted five events in just over a month.
For two hours on a Saturday, club members set up a table at a public location and spread out the one-of-a-kind bookmarks and bracelets for sale.
Their first donation, $65, was made to the Sanford Children’s Hospital followed by another $65 to the Rock County Food Shelf, $65 to the family of Devin Sengvongxay, and $322 to Brian and Amanda Sterling family for SLC6A1 research. The most recent check was donated to the Luverne BackPack program for $152.25 last week.
“This is going to buy lots and lots of food,” program representative Lisa Dinger told the girls.
The girls’ moms conduct their own Zoom meetings to keep up with their girls’ enthusiasm.
Mom Tashia Klosterbuer said those who stop at the girls’ sale table have been more than generous to the girls’ donation recipients. The girls also spearhead the sales, talking directly with the customers about the causes they support.
“It’s such a great idea,” Klosterbuer said. “Especially that they are genuine and committed to what they are doing. They are learning a lot in the business world.”
“These sweet girls are going to change the world one bookmark and bracelet at a time,” Klosterbuer wrote on the girls’ Facebook page.
The page, called The Bookmark & Bracelet Club, is where the group announces where their next sale event is located and who the benefiting organization or individual will be.
The page is also where the club members take custom orders.