Ten Oaks Middle School gives $1,900 from pajama fundraiser to North Carolina school district affected by Helene

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. — Students and staff members from Ten Oaks Middle School gathered Thursday to donate more than $1,900 to a North Carolina School District trying to recover after Hurricane Helene.

The Ten Oaks Student Council and Kindness Club collectively raised the money for the McDowell County Schools in Marion, North Carolina, through a Pajama Friday fundraiser. The students paid $5 to wear pajama pants to school.

Ten Oaks Principal Lindsay Lennon said that the fundraiser was entirely the students' idea. She said she's proud that they came up with the idea, which proved to be fun while also helping McDowell students schools during their time of need.

"The more we can teach kids about kindness and doing for others and being grateful for what we have, we have this incredible building that we get to go to school every day, I think it's just a good reminder to pay it forward," Lennon said.

Suzanne Rampey, chief finance officer for McDowell County Schools said she loves seeing the two school districts connect to help out during the disaster. She said it feels like a sense of community with kids at a young age wanting to help others in need.

"Meeting these students has been, it's been really nice to see," Rampey said. "A student is a student, a student here and a student in western North Carolina, and for them to have that relationship with us as well, and I think that would carry forward as a relationship with our school systems from here forward."

Rampey said the donations from Ten Oaks will help students and families affected by Helene as well as provide elementary school supplies that were damaged. She said Helene has brought many challenges for Marion and that one elementary school is currently being renovated because of mud and water from Helene.

Before giving the donations, Lennon said she reached out to superintendents in McDowell County directly.

"They both emailed me back quite quickly, which I think is a telling sign of what the urgent need is for them right now, just how devastated their community is," she said. "But they're going to work hard to rebuild and stay strong and just how much they appreciate a coastal school supporting their school systems."

Campbell Green, 13, a member of the Kindness Club at Ten Oaks, said she was excited to come up with a fundraiser that would get students involved and also give back to others.

"It just makes me feel excited and happy to know that everybody wants to pitch in to help with kindness, because a lot of people have came with, like, requests and stuff to do anything to help out," she said. It just makes me so happy. I would be very happy just to know that, like other schools from across the whole state and other places are there for me and other places around are just watching over like the county and the school."

Student Council President Rebecca Frenti said the fundraiser and her role as president are important in finding ways to help others.

"Being president of [the] student council, it's important that I'm representing how we're helping out with schools and those impacted due to the hurricane," she said.

Rampey, whose daughter attended McDowell County Schools, said it's wonderful to be able to receive a donation from Ten Oaks, a school that shares similar values of kindness.

"Knowing that she went through McDowell County Schools, and knowing just the wonderful atmosphere at McDowell County Schools," she said. "I feel that here at this middle school as well. I feel like this school system is really showing that kind of love that we have in McDowell, too."

On top of their donation to McDowell County Schools, Ten Oaks also plans to donate about $1,500 to Edgefield County, South Carolina, and make another donation to a school system in Tennessee.

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Gabby Jonas joined the News13 team as a multimedia journalist in April 2024. She is from Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Kent State University in May 2023. Follow Gabby on X, formerly Twitter , Facebook or Instagram , and read more of her work here .