FACS adviser Aubrey Herring sits counting cash in her office fifth period after selling 105 Chick-Fil-A sandwiches to teachers during A, B, C, and D lunches. 

This money was collected for the Students Performing Unselfish Deeds (SPUD) fundraising effort held by eight organizations in the school—from December 6-12—in order to help pay for first grader Jayden Liehsing’s hospital bills, racked up from his fight against acute lymphoblastic leukemia last spring. 

Smithson Valley began planning for SPUD week March 2020, and had originally set their donation goal to $10,000. 

“We raised almost $3,500,” Herring said. “Back in the spring, when we originally planned SPUD week for Jayden, our goal was $10000. So that’s why the $3,500 feels really small to me, but considering that we have less than half the school here in person, it’s not bad at all.”

While the turnout wasn’t quite what was expected, the clubs and staff hosted multiple different activities to raise money, such as selling superhero t-shirts to support Jayden and holding a charity kickball tournament.

 ”I’m coming to terms with accepting that this year has been what it is,” Herring said. “But I am really proud of all my students and very very grateful that we have such a good community here at Smithson Valley.”  

She is still connecting donations, even if they are not official. “It is still pending; people are still donating. When people see me in the hall they are like, ‘Oh hey here, put this for SPUD week’, so I’m still having to turn in all of that. The restaurants tend to take longer to process the checks and everything, so it will finally be a closed amount once we come back from Christmas break.” 

SPUD week is held annually, and is planned far in advance to accommodate the large scale activities.

“Usually, in a normal school year, we would actually be planning for [the next school year’s] SPUD week right now, picking our beneficiary, the theme, you know, all of that,” Herring said. “But because we had it last week, we are kinda behind, so that’s my goal when we come back, [which] is to start going through [next year’s plans]with the students.”