Krafts for Kids
The Youth Venture Leadership Team at Frances Drake felt compelled to help young people in DCF. They learned that sometimes children have to spend time waiting in the DCF office and they wanted to provide these young people with something to do that can be creative and fun. They also understand that children can be bored in their new homes in foster care. Therefore, they held a craft supply war at their school. Each grade was designated to bring in a certain item (puzzle, notebook, markers, stickers etc.) and all the items were compiled to create and fill 200 bags to donate to DCF.

Frances Drake Youth Venture Team 2018 - Frances Drake Elementary School
Following a request from Catholic Charities for help, the fourth and fifth grade student leadership Team at Frances Drake Elementary School designed a “Hygiene War”–a school wide contest to collect a variety of hygiene items from students in each grade level in order to contribute to Catholic Charities. With the goal to collect 100 items from each grade far surpassed, a combination of generosity and healthy competition resulted in 2,788 items across six grade levels. The competition, resulting in a tie, awarded kindergarten and fifth grade students with a movie and popsicles funded with UWYV seed funding. This mission matters a lot to the school because students really want to help people in their community in a fun way.

EARTH - Frances Drake Elementary School
The 2016-2017 whole-school Venture Team at Frances Drake Elementary School was focused on improving the environment. They established a “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” week in June and created a fun “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” Bingo Game Board with suggested environmentally-friendly activities that they could complete at home. Students could then bring in the board and they could earn prizes. Any projects they brought in from the Bingo Boards were then posted around the school. They also held a raffle that week for new recycled items with proceeds to go toward a future traveling school store where students can purchase items including some made from recycled materials.

Care and Play for Animals - Frances Drake Elementary School
Care and Play for Animals is the first whole-school Venture Team, and remarkably is made up of entirely elementary school students! A self-selected team of fourth and fifth graders interviewed their peers, identifying animal care and sports as the primary passions of Frances Drake Elementary students. The Team collects critically needed supplies for Pat Brody Cat Shelter and others, while providing fun sport-related incentives to students for their support.

Kylee’s Kare Kits for Kidz - Frances Drake Elementary School
After learning that many of her peers went home each weekend to a foodless house, Kylee could not rest until she started a plan to provide meals to those families. The group has gained momentum and now currently provides food every weekend for children in the Leominster public school system. Each Friday, the children receive a “kare kit” that includes cereal, juice, fruit cups, applesauce, pudding, macaroni & cheese, chicken noodle soup, granola bars, fruit snacks, or peanut butter crackers, varying week to week depending upon what is donated. With the support of family, friends and community, Kylee is now providing food to 40 children on a weekly basis.