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NORTH OGDEN — A local nonprofit organization is aiming to strengthen the Weber County community and benefit families by funding financially needy kids in extracurricular activities, including preschool.
Amber Hodges, co-founder of the Pledge Jar, said the mission of the organization is to bridge the gap between kids who have access to extracurricular activities and those who don't. The Pledge Jar connects with kids in the Weber County area whose families can't financially afford to put them in extracurricular activities, and the donations the organization collects pay the fees to the companies offering the extracurricular activities, such as dance studios and parks and recreation departments.
"The funnest part I think is they're so grateful for the chance to be able to do something that they didn't think that they were going to be able to do," Hodges said. "And then usually … they want to pay it forward, like, 'Do you have events I can volunteer at? How can I help pay back what you've just given to us?'"
Cofounder Hali Larsen had the idea about five years ago and approached Hodges. Larsen is the owner of a preschool in Pleasant View called Smarty Pants, which has offered free or reduced tuition as one of the extracurricular options.
Trinette Hayslip's son, Lincoln, is one of the Smarty Pants alumni who went to the preschool on scholarship, thanks to the Pledge Jar. Lincoln was about to turn 3 years old when he was diagnosed with leukemia in December of 2017.
Hayslip had been hoping to send Lincoln to preschool, specifically Smarty Pants, because it had been highly recommended to her. But she didn't think it would be possible to send him to any preschool due to all the medical bills that were piling up.
While sitting by her community pool watching her sons swim one summer day, Hayslip got a message from Larsen offering Lincoln a scholarship to Smarty Pants.
"I literally started crying while I was sitting next to the pool, because I was so overwhelmed," Hayslip said. "It was something that we needed at the time, because we definitely could not afford preschool, but I wanted him to get into some kind of normalcy because … definitely nothing about his life had been normal."
Hayslip feels preschool was a great experience for Lincoln because he finally got to interact with kids who were outside the cancer community for the first time in a long time. She said he was definitely prepared for kindergarten and was able to learn things at preschool he wouldn't have learned from her at home.
"For him to be around kids his age and doing fun things … like the field trips and … he absolutely loved it," Hayslip said. "He loved his teachers there, he looked forward to it, there was never any hesitation, it was just something that he got to look forward to … some sort of normalcy that he hadn't experienced up to that point."
Many of the kids that have benefitted from the Pledge Jar are in elementary school. The nonprofit is active about communicating with local elementary school administrators, teachers and counselors about who they are and what they do so the schools can connect them with needy kids.
During the 2020-21 school year, teachers were told they couldn't ask parents for donated school supplies because of the financial strain COVID-19 had put on families. The Pledge Jar then stepped in and provided school supplies for every elementary school that feeds into Weber High School.
Monica Grillo's 7-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son received help from the Pledge Jar during a very trying time for their family.
In October of 2021, their father passed away suddenly from a brain aneurysm rupture and on Christmas Day, less than two months later, their mother experienced a devastating pregnancy loss at 20 weeks for an unknown reason.
"I felt desperate to keep my kids feeling close and connected to their dad," Grillo said. "He was a black belt in taekwondo, and I had the thought that maybe they would like to do that like their dad."
Taekwondo is an expensive activity and Grillo worried about covering the cost on her own, so she was relieved when the Pledge Jar stepped in.
"It has been so awesome to see them enjoy something that reminds them of their dad," Grillo said. "He is our hero and was so strong. I can tell they feel strong following in his footsteps."
Anybody can reach out to the Pledge Jar to submit the name of a family in need. Participants fill out a form to let the organization know who they are, what they're going through and what type of extracurricular activity they're looking for their child to do. The Pledge Jar then works with the family to find out what they can financially provide toward the activity without it putting a strain on their family at all, and then they make up the difference.
Donations are welcome through the Pledge Jar website or Venmo @thepledgejar.
