Mid-Prairie School Board met on September 24. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

Mid-Prairie staff are looking to help with recovery efforts in North Carolina after Hurricane Florence.

Alternative Learning Center Principal Amy Shalla and Behavioral Interventionist Matt Freel spoke to the Mid-Prairie School Board at their recent meeting about taking a group of students to Jacksonville, North Carolina the week following Thanksgiving.

Shalla said that community service is important for the ALC, “When we look at kids who live in this area they don’t go anywhere else, they see Wellman and they see Kalona and that’s all that they see. This gives them an opportunity to look outside themselves, look outside the community and help our fellow man people that they don’t even know. We’ve had a lot of conversations down here about different things with the hurricane and different opportunities and whatever, and it’s not even on their radar, that’s not happening here that’s somewhere else. And I think it’s important for people to understand that this isn’t all that we have. We have a lot of opportunities to help other people, but also to see things in ways that people are being resilient when they have nothing. I think that’s important for people to change their own story.”

The biggest hurdle for the trip is transportation, and Freel and Shalla are trying to determine whether vans or a charter bus is more fiscally responsible. They asked permission of the board to create a GoFundMe page to cover traveling expenses, and any excess funds would be donated to hurricane victims. The board encouraged them to do further research for the trip to be presented at a future meeting.