Photo: Oakes-SRCTC DECA

OAKES, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Around this time of year with Christmas just around the corner, acts of kindness just seem to go a little bit further. As for Oakes students Elle Cline, Bethany Harris, and Bryley Haberman, they are helping give back to their community. The three Tornadoes students are in DECA at the Oakes Public Schools helping visually impaired students.

DECA stands for Distributive Education Clubs for America and currently has 163,000 members and has 3,200 high school chapters including in one Oakes. They are a non-profit organization with a goal to “address the learning styles, interest and focus of its members”. Bethany and Elle have been a part of DECA for two years and Bryley is in his first year with the organization.

Right now, they are working on a project called “Keep the Blind in Mind” which helps those who are visually impaired with learning. They are currently holding a fundraiser for equipment to help make learning more fun, easier, and more personalized. The fundraiser is part of a community outreach project the three students signed up for.

The project is keeping the students busy towards the end of the fall semester. Elle is the organizer of the group, Bethany helps with applying for grants, and Bryley writes newspaper articles with the Oakes Times and bakes pies for the fundraiser.

Elle talked about the importance of the program and giving back to the community.

If you are wanting to donate to this fantastic cause, here is how you can.

The link to donate via PayPal is here. Their goal is to raise $1,000 and they were able to raise $650 in the first 24 hours.

The students said they might do a project like this in the future, but their goal right now is to raise as much money for Keep the Blind in Mind as they can.