Every student at Estes Elementary School was gifted with a set of pajamas and a fleece blanket to take home for the holidays thanks to a project teacher Krystal Williams has been working on for several months.
Williams said the process started earlier in the school year to ensured they had correct sizes and were able to order all the pajamas in time to arrive before the last day of school.
The school first took on a version of the project a few years ago, quickly raising $10,000 to put toward providing pajamas to the students thanks to help from the community.
“It is stressful, but at the same time getting to see the kids and seeing how appreciative they are over just a pair of pajamas is what it’s for. So I would not want to change it for anything though. We are already planning on how to do better next year,” Williams said.
This year, Estes received a $2,500 donation from McDaniel Enterprise in addition to the contributions of 60 other community members to help make this year’s drive a success.
As she looked at the nearly 500 students in the school gym during a celebration Friday morning, Williams was brought to tears.
“We want you all to know that you are loved,” she said. “Our community wants you to know that you’re loved, and your teachers want you to know you are loved.”
