McLaurin Elementary School Gives Back to First Responders After the events that occurred on October 3, 2018 McLaurin came together as a school to honor law enforcement officers in different ways. This tragedy greatly affected the McLaurin family. Unfortunately a few students at our school were directly impacted by the shootings because of the loss of their aunt, Farrah Turner. Officer Turner was highly involved with students and staff at McLaurin Elementary School. Because of this, and the fact that many law enforcement families belong to our school, we felt the need to give back to the law enforcement community. One of the fundraisers that a few staff members took charge of was buying and selling over 800 bracelets that read “Not All Heroes Wear Capes”, “In Memory of Officer Turner”. McLaurin students and staff bought over 700 bracelets and raised over $1,000 for Farrah’s family. A first grade McLaurin student felt called to do more for Farrah’s family. This student knew Officer Turner personally and thought of her as a true hero. She drew and designed stickers honoring Farrah and other police officers in the Florence community. Along with stickers, she also designed a t-shirt with the logo “Live like Farrah.” The stickers and shirts were sold at school and all proceeds went to Officer Turner’s family. The last fundraiser that McLaurin did was called “Change for Change.” This fundraiser was designed to raise change for Florence City Police Department and Florence County Sheriff’s Department. Classrooms battled against one another to bring in the most change. The school was able to raise over $600 for the departments. To show our appreciation to all officers in Florence the teachers of McLaurin came together and decided to have a breakfast on December 17th honoring them. As the officers entered the building students lined the walkway and applauded them. The students held signs and gave officers high-fives as they passed through. When the officers signed in they were greeted with a display of pictures and inspirational quotes honoring first responders. The officers were then provided a breakfast donated by Krispy Kreme, Julia Belle’s, and the McCall family. While eating breakfast students from various classes recited poems and sang songs of encouragement for the officers. One of the most special songs students sang was “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers. After students presented their program, the family of Farrah Turner was presented the monetary donations raised from the wristband fundraiser. To end the program Florence County Sheriff’s Department and Florence City Police Department were presented with over $300 each from the “Change for Change” drive. McLaurin is so thankful for the men and women that serve as first responders in our community every day. We were humbled to serve them and present them with a small token of our appreciation for risking their lives for us daily.
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