Tyrone elementary students donate holiday store profits to Altoona THON group

TYRONE, Pa. - Some local elementary school students have used their entrepreneurial skills to support Altoona Benefitting THON (ABT).

Linkai Hawthorne, Joseph Davis, Kennedy Shaffer, Rian McManigal, Jade Campbell, and Ryleigh Musselman attend Saint Matthew School in Tyrone, Pennsylvania. They form the school's entrepreneurial business, the Rescue Aid.

In November, they began implementing a standard business model for a Christmas store by identifying their target audience, researching merchandise, and learning how to purchase merchandise by determining the cost per item, the mark-up price, and potential profit. They then developed a brick-and-mortar store in the school complete with décor and signage that opened in December. Students at Saint Matthew could shop for holiday gifts for their friends and family.

After paying expenses and learning how to use income and expenses to determine profit, Rescue Aid members calculated their efforts raised $400.75.

The group selected Altoona Benefitting THON as the recipient of these funds.

"The chance to help kids with cancer was important to us," says Kennedy Shaffer, who serves as CFO of Rescue Aid. "When we saw that these were kids who live around here, we really wanted to do something for them."

Neya Kratzer is the executive director for fundraising for ABT.

"It is inspiring to see children in local communities gain an understanding and passion for THON's mission," she says. "We are so proud of them for their generosity and for showing such dedication to helping other children battling cancer."

Kratzer adds that one goal of ABT is to inspire others to make a difference.

"We are grateful to see our organization have an impactful outreach to other schools."