Lines Third Graders’ Project Surprises, Touches Barrington Girl’s Family

Carrie Raia did not know what to expect when she was summoned outside Barrington Middle School Station Campus.

Vickie Marienau’s third grade class at Lines Elementary School had a surprise for her.

The class has been doing lemonade stands and collecting change to help local charities and foundations. Friday, the class presented Raia with a $722 check for Karing for Kaylee, benefiting her three-year-old daughter.

Kaylee has a rare, severe form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome. Everyday is a struggle for the preschool girl, Carrie Raia said. Her diagnosis is uncertain, but she is doing well right now. Carrie Raia and her husband, Sam, a Barrington High School teacher, take it day by day, she said.

Marienau’s class gathered to present the check on behalf of Change 4 Life. One of her students, Ellie Franze, came up with the idea of raising money.

Ellie got a white elephant gift for Christmas, a big cookie jar. Her father, Ray, asked her what she planned to do with the cookie jar. Ellie decided to put money into it, but it would not be a piggy bank.

“She said ‘I want to give the money to other people,’” Ray Franze said.

The 9-year-old Deer Park girl came up with the idea of Change 4 Life.

Ray and Nicole Franze encouraged Ellie’s idea, but Marienau helped make it a class project.

Marienau’s class had done some fundraising for Ride for 3 Reasons, a nonprofit started by a student’s grandfather and were interested in doing something on their own. The class started with bringing in change then came up with different ways to raise money. Students decided on lemonade stands.
One lemonade stand was mobile, Marienau said. The students would take the lemonade stand to games and other events, she said. That one stand raised $281, she said. Raia actually went to one of the lemonade stands benefiting Change 4 Life. Her neighbor, Grace Gould, is in Marienau’s class and had a stand in the neighborhood.
 
“This is awesome,” Carrie Raia said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. It means so much to me,” Raia said.

Ellie wore her handmade Change 4 Life at Friday’s presentation. “It feels really, really good,” said Ellie, who later met Kaylee when Carrie Raia brought her to visit the class.

Ellie wants to see Change 4 Life to spread to other schools, in the district and nationwide. Her idea is for schoolchildren to raise money and keep the donation in their towns or neighborhoods, Ray Franze said

The class also donated to Wishes for Scarlett, Ride for 3 Reasons and a children’s hospital.

Kaylee has touch others as well.

Emily Sullivan, a Barrington High School senior, started Klimbing for Kaylee and is raising donations as she prepares to climb Mt. Rainier in Washington this summer. Sam Raia was Sullivan’s coach. Her trip to Washington with her mom, Diane, will be in July.

She has never gone on a hiking trip like this so she and her mom will have a guide. There is a half day of training before the climb, Sullivan said.

“I had seen how a lot of people used climbs as charity climbs and they have been able to raise a lot of money,” Sullivan said. “We figured we might as well turn it into a charity climb.”

Sullivan has known the Raia family since Kaylee was a baby. She is “the cutest thing. She’s adorable,” Sullivan said. Donations to Karing for Kaylee can be made on Fondly.com. The donations will help pay for Kaylee’s treatments.

Sullivan has received a lot of positive feedback. There are people who’ve she doesn’t know donating, which has encouraged her and made her feel good.

Editor's Note: A previous version incorrectly stated the name of the charity for Kaylee Raia. It is Karing for Kaylee.