$100 to help students with special needs in U-46

Today's recipient of a $100 bill through the Believe Project is Rhonda Joustra of Elgin.

Here is an excerpt of her story:

"As a retired U-46 special education teacher, I have a request that would help out two of my fellow educators who currently teach classes of children with special needs.

"Each month the classes are to take part in a community trip. These trips are taken to give the children experiences within the communities where they live.

"We would always have our standard' trips - bowling, seeing a movie, perhaps a local restaurant - yet we are always looking for a new experience. The problems that we would encounter are that the trip is assigned to a specific day each month and that the time frame is limited as well. It is also difficult to ask parents to supplement the cost of these trips as eating out for example could cost up to $10 per child when you figure out a meal, tax and a tip unless of course the venue is willing to let the class order from the children's menu.

"The school district does give a small stipend per child per trip, but it is not enough to cover the costs unless the monthly trip can be taken to a park or some other free adventure.

"So, as you can see, the money would be well spent, giving each teacher $50 to spend to take the class somewhere special without having to pay for the additional fees themselves. Even bigger yet, it would be wonderful for the community to be aware that if they have a special event the children might be interested in they could contact a school near them with a special needs classroom and offer to host a community trip."

• The Believe Project is awarding $100 each day in December to a different person with a good idea for how to use the money to do a good deed for someone else. To submit your suggestion for sharing good will, visit events.dailyherald.com/believe-project/.