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Brixner students pledge community service to help local boy

Brixner Junior High School students adopted a “sparrow” last week, committing to volunteering 300 hours of community service to raise money for 2-year-old Jubal, a Klamath Falls boy who was critically injured in an accident.

Brixner Junior High School’s Student Council poses with a sign for Jubal.

With the help of Sparrow Clubs National Program Director Matt Sampson, Brixner students kicked off the effort during an assembly last week. Kena Sampson, Southern Oregon Director for Sparrow Clubs, livestreamed the event for Jubal’s mother, who was in Portland at the hospital with her son.

The goal is to provide emotional and financial support to Jubal and his family. Sparrow Club sponsors donate money to the family for the community service hours Brixner students log in Jubal’s name.

A photo of Jubal before the accident.

“It’s all about empowering young people like you to make a difference in the lives of young people in medical need,” Matt Sampson told the students. “This is about you serving others to unlock the money for Jubal’s family.

Student Council members, along with teacher and advisor Kjaersti Roberts, are leading the way. This is the second time the school has participated. Sparrow Clubs reached out to Roberts in January 2020, asking if the school would be interested in adopting then 8-year-old Caiden Zimmermann. She saw it as a great way to help a local family and allow students to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

Jubal’s first day of physical therapy. He just started a six-week inpatient program and is doing better than expected.

“We spend a lot of time focusing on and teaching character development and building community,” Roberts said. “I believe that students have a lot of potential to make a difference. It just needs to be unlocked. Adopting a sparrow means that we, as a school community, get to focus on helping someone else, and when that happens, there is a confidence that develops. Our students have an opportunity to be resourceful, compassionate, and empathetic, and to lead by serving others.”

During the assembly, students watched a video about Jubal and his family. Jubal’s mother is watching the assembly via a live video from a smart phone.

As a member of Sparrow Clubs, the school pledges to complete the required community service. Students fill out and turn in vouchers for their hours, and a sponsor then matches those hours with a cash donation to the sparrow family.

Brixner eighth-grader and student council member Liz Henderson is ready to get involved and volunteer her time to help, and she is pleased the entire student body made the commitment.

“I think it’s amazing,” she said. “This is the school coming together to help a little boy we don’t know because it’s the right thing to do.”

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