The Olympia Capital Centennial Rotary Club recently held its annual Teddy Bear Tea Party to raise funds to help homeless and low income children in the Olympia area.
This year 2021, was an in person scaled down event and the club raised $11,000 from sponsors. In 2020, the event was not held due to the pandemic, but sponsors still donated to the annual event to help the community.
Helping with the event was the North Thurston Interact Club, which helped decorate, worked with the families on various entertainment activities and helped clean up after the event.
Monies raised go to support many projects including the Olympia School District’s Madison Elementary school which has a large percentage of homeless students. The club funds such items as school supplies, clothing, laundry products, school books and even first aid kits during the summer months when school nurses aren’t readily available.
Other money raised from the event goes to such groups as the South Sound Reading Foundation and the Olympia Family Support Center. Both of these groups were critical partners during the pandemic offering free books to children and small stipends to families when the economy was shut down.
