Walmart grant helps City of Sequim support local students

City of Sequim staffers received a belated present in 2019 for their annual Christmas tradition.

Sequim School Resource Officer Kindryn Leiter said Sequim received a grant for $1,500 from Walmart to help support students living in city limits.

In years past, city staffers collected among themselves to pay for presents for a few families at Christmas. This year, they supported a family of seven and three individual children, Leiter said.

“We’re grateful the grant came through,” she said.

Leiter went to Sequim Middle School, Sequim High School and Helen Haller Elementary to meet with administrators to see how the funds could help.

She and fellow city staffers Ann Holgerson and Sandy McCulloch helped use monies to make hygiene bags with deodorant, toothbrushes, socks, underwear and more along with after school snacks. They also purchased phone cards for students to use with cell phones to call their parents, and prizes as behavioral incentives for Helen Haller’s Cougar Call Out program.