Tulsa -
Members of East Side Christian Church held an event to raise funds for Tulsa's Lanier Elementary School on Saturday.
The fundraiser, called Pickin' Fer Pencils, ran from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Saturday at East Side Christian Church in the 1400 block of South Indianapolis Avenue in Tulsa.
The gala featured live bands, inflatables, food, carnival-like games, and TUMBLEBUS. Patrons who brought school supplies got in for free.
Reverend Daniel U'Ren of East Side Christian Church told Tulsa's Channel 8 that their church partnered with Lanier a few years ago—with church members going into the school as mentors, reading one-on-one with students who needed help reading, and helping students with other subjects.
Rev. U'Ren said that Lanier was one of the schools heavily impacted by inadequate State education funding.
"There are many families who might have difficulty getting pencils, paper, glue, backpacks, and the extensive list of items their student requires in the classroom," Rev. U'Ren said. "We want to be a good neighbor and feel one way we can do that is to support our neighborhood children and families in little things like collecting school supplies."
The church started doing Pickin' Fer Pencils a few years ago in an effort to raise money so they could provide school supplies to help not only free up funds for the school, but also to make sure all students would have access to the necessary items needed to succeed in school.
Lanier Elementary School is located in the 1700 block of South Harvard Avenue in Tulsa.
The school was named after Sidney Lanier, an American musician and poet who lived from 1842 to 1881.
