06/03/2026
The Standard-Journal
MIFFLINBURG — Young philanthropists showcased their generosity Tuesday as 40 fifth-grade students in the Mifflinburg Area School District presented more than $15,000 in donations to six locally based nonprofit organizations.
Students in the school’s Hoping Hands club presented donations of $2,400 each to Kelsey’s Dream, Camp Koala, Hunter’s Heart and Hustle Foundation, All-In for Joslyn Flickinger Foundation, Oliver’s Army and Rescue Pets Serving Vets. The students also provided $1,000 to support two children at the City of Joy School in Rwanda.
The students held a variety of fundraiser throughout the year, including bakes sales and collecting donations from their neighbors. They also gave allowances, and birthday and Christmas money they received to the cause.
The donations are presented on the last day of school each year by students under the guidance of teachers Mark E. Alexander and Angela Fontana.
The fundraising goal for each year is to raise a total of $10,000 for local nonprofits, with at least $2,000 being split between each nonprofit. This year, the program raised a total of $15,458.72, allowing for the $2,400 to be donated to each organization, plus the funds send to Rwanda.
Oliver’s Army is a nonprofit organization started by Mifflinburg fifth grader Oliver Auman, a pediatric cancer survivor who started the organization as a way to return the kindness which was shown to him as he battled cancer.
“Oliver’s Army’s mission is to spread joy and raise awareness and funds to give back to organizations that supported Oliver following his pediatric cancer diagnosis and treatment,” said Jason Auman, Oliver’s father.
Hunter’s Heart and Hustle was founded in memory of Warrior Run student Hunter Beck Reynolds, who passed in 2022 from injuries sustained in an automobile crash. The organization helps student athletes and their parents by purchasing equipment and helping fund transportation, scholarships and camps.
The All-In for Joslyn Flickinger Foundation was created in memory of Flickinger, a Mifflinburg fourth-grade student who passed away in 2023. The organization raises funds for families who have suffered similar losses.
Camp Koala was founded in memory of founder Lisa Streett-Liebetrau’s sisters Shelly and Heather, who died of injuries sustained in a 1989 car crash. The foundation offers counseling services to children who have experienced the loss of a loved one.
Tina Kuhns is one of the co-founders of Kelsey’s Dream, a nonprofit named after the memory of her 11-year-old daughter Kelsey Kuhns, who passed in November 2005, after a battling Leukemia. The organization is best known for distributing frog plushes named “Hopper the Cancer-Crusher” nationwide, which helps educate pediatric cancer patients on their treatments, as well as offer them comfort. Kelsey’s Dream was the first nonprofit Hoping Hands raised almost $9,000 in funds for in 2022.
“Every year I’m more impressed with the kids and how hard they work,” Kuhns said. “I think it’s a great program, because the kids have the opportunity to give back to the community, and this is a stepping-stone in how they can change their lives and help others.”
Hoping Hands was founded when Alexander and Fontana brainstormed ways to help their students find more meaning in the world around them.
Fontana discovered CBS News’ “Kindness 101” with Steve Hartman, which was a web series in which Hartman taught lessons on character and spreading kindness.
The teachers were especially intrigued by the “Kindness Goes Viral” Challenge in December 2022, in which Hartman encouraged viewers to photograph themselves doing something kind that month under the hashtag for a chance to be featured on CBS News platforms.
“At first I thought it was kind of silly,” Alexander said.
However, he noticed his students were visibly inspired after watching a video where fifth-grade students in Texas raised money to build handicap and special-needs-accessible playground equipment for their classmates.
“After watching that video, one of my students asked me a question that changed everything,” Alexander said. “He asked, ‘Can we do something like that?’”
Alexander was eager to help the students pursue their newfound interest, and began giving them some time at the end of each day to brainstorm a project for themselves. The name Hoping Hands came from Alexander’s suggestion to the children that they would “bring hope to people” in the community.
“The moment they started thinking less about themselves and more about others, the behavior in that class did a 180,” Alexander said. “Grades went up and behavior improved.”
This year’s Hoping Hands president is student Peyton Resseguie. Corrie Hackenberg serves as the organization’s vice president, Arihanna Virgo is secretary and Aspen Sholley is treasurer.
This year Alexander was inspired by a mission trip his wife, Julie Alexander, made through the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mifflinburg and Dreisbach United Church of Christ in Lewisburg to the City of Joy School in Rwanda. There, she learned that not every child has an opportunity to attend classes.
Alexander asked his class if they were interested in raising funds to send students to school, as it costs almost $500 to send one child to the school.
Alexander coordinated a Zoom video meeting between his class and another fifth-grade class at City of Joy over the winter. What was supposed to be a 3-minute call became a 45-minute conversation fueled by the children’s curiosity for each other.
“There were a lot of questions, smiles, and singing,” Alexander said. “I think that (call) opened my students’ minds that there’s a lot more to life beyond Mifflinburg.”
