The Kane Area School District's Elementary School is partnering with artists in the Pennsylvania Wilds to sell affordable Christmas gifts to students this week.
Every year, the elementary school’s parent teacher organization hosts a Christmas store for students. Previously, the items for sale came from outside businesses selling wholesale goods.
Brandy Schimp is Kane’s mayor and the school’s parent teacher organization president.
"When we took a closer look at the numbers from last year, we realized that people are spending a significant amount of money at the store. So it's a significant amount of money that's being spent and then just shipped elsewhere. And then money is essentially leaving the community," Schimp said.
This year, the school is selling gifts made by local artists and partners with the Pennsylvania Wilds.
“I think this is a really exciting opportunity for [students] to see there are local wares and there are local makers. These are things that, you know, directly go back to benefit families in our community when you shop local," Schimp said.
Joe Lanich is a co-owner of the Laughing Owl Press in Kane, which also partners with the school’s Christmas store.
“We had this idea to try to get all the product locally at an affordable price for the kids. You know, because we are in an economically stressed area, as you know, most of rural Pennsylvania," Lanich said.
Lanich said all the gifts are either $1, $2 or $3, and the school gives each student $5 to spend. That money came from an anonymous donor. Some of the gifts include candles, soaps, and Kane-themed decorations and chocolates.
Lanich said this partnership will support the local economy and promote community growth.
“If we want our communities to grow here, you know, in rural Pennsylvania, it's not an overnight problem. We need to start with the kids and show them compassion and caring through all the programs we do for them and kind of model contributing to the community," Lanich said.
Right now, the Christmas shop is only open to Kindergarten through fifth graders, but organizers are considering opening it to middle school students next year.
Nikki Reeger, the shop administrator at the Laughing Owl Press, said there are still some wholesale items for sale this year.
"We're hoping to possibly in the future eliminate them even farther and get even more people involved with the store in the future. Our main goal is to keep everything ideally local," Reeger said.
Any items that aren’t sold by the end of this week will go to the Laughing Owl Press for Friday’s “Shop Late Night” event in Kane.
