Children in Crisis, Okaloosa schools honored top fundraisers in annual Change for Children campaign

At a meeting of the Okaloosa County School Board, representatives of the nonprofit Children in Crisis presented awards to the top fundraisers in this year’s Change for Children campaign and thanked the district for continued support.

The recognition highlighted several schools that led fundraising among participating Okaloosa schools. Kitty Johnson, a member of the Children in Crisis board of directors, introduced the group and the honorees. "This is our twentieth year of doing this, and just having your support is huge to what we do," Johnson said.

Kevin Maloney, president and CEO of Children in Crisis, described the need the organization serves. "Currently in the state of Florida, we have over 17,000 children in out of home care. And our own circuit, which is, Escambia to Walton County, we have over 1,100 in out of home care," Maloney said. He added that Children in Crisis expects to reopen a home that will take five children.

The board and presenters recognized top fundraisers by category. Southside Primary was named top fundraiser in the community school care category and was credited in the meeting with raising $2,428.64. Plue Elementary (elementary category) was announced as a top fundraiser; the meeting transcript records an amount of $2,102,189.07 for Plue, a figure that appears inconsistent with other school fundraising totals and is not independently confirmed in the transcript. Choctaw (high school category) was listed as the top high-school fundraiser, recorded at $2,000. Ruckle Middle School was named the top middle-school fundraiser in Okaloosa County and was credited in the meeting with raising $3,000.

Children in Crisis volunteers and Alpha Delta Kappa members who help run the campaign were on hand to present plaques and banners to school leaders and sponsors. Presenters said the campaign supports student clothing, uniforms, food, and extracurricular needs for students in foster care or facing financial hardship; one speaker described the effort as "children helping children."

Board members recessed the meeting after the presentation to allow attendees to depart before the advertised session continued.

The meeting transcript shows some small inconsistencies on counts and amounts: presenters said first that 18 schools participated, then later referenced 19 participating schools; the transcript does not resolve that discrepancy. The transcript also records an unusually large figure for Plue Elementary that may be a transcription error; that number is reported here as it appeared in the meeting record but is noted as not independently verified by the transcript text.