Parents and kids walked around Southgate Elementary School Monday morning as part of the annual Southgate Walk-a-Thon. This year’s school-wide fundraiser earned

$13,534, almost $2,000 more than last year’s total.

For the past 16 years, students at Southgate have collected donations from the community to walk around the block that Southgate is on. On average, the walk-a-thon earns

between $12-$14,000 annually, money which is used by Southgate’s Parent Teacher Committee to buy school supplies and pay for lectures, field trips and other necessary educational opportunities.

The top earning class was Mr. Osgood’s fifth grade class  and the top fundraiser was fifth grader Colin Vaughan. Osgood’s class will get a pizza party while Vaughan will receive a free stay at the Holiday Inn in a poolside room with a large pizza for himself and his family.

According to Dannielle Borgerson-Nesvold, Southgate PTC’s treasurer, the walk-a-thon is the only fundraiser Southgate PTC does, but it is currently looking at doing more fundraisers. Some time this year, Borgerson-Nesvold said, Southgate PTC will be partnering with Hardy’s Geranium to offer $20 tickets for 12 flower boquets, one a month, of any floral type to community members.

Only a limited amount of tickets will be offered and some people have been trying to buy tickets even before the fundraiser’s begun, according to Borgerson-Nesvold. The Southgate PTC will receive half of the proceeds, she said. Although it’s another fundraiser, parents won’t mind too much, according to her.

“It’s amazing what a little bit will help do,” Borgerson-Nesvold said.