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Secret teacher duo flocking for Relay funds
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .For the weeks up to the Poland Relay for Life on July 8 and 9, Team North will be “flocking,” or placing a group of plastic flamingos, on the lawns of Poland residents when they least expect it. The two “flockers” are North teachers who will remain anonymous, but they allowed Neighbors to show their hands only. Their code names are Blackbird (left) and Sunshine..
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor.Team North's first few flocks, shown at a Poland house here, started with a few flamingos. The flockers have improved their group of flamingos by about 20.
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Once the Flamingo Flock visits a Poland house, the house guests find this message in their yard the next morning.
By SARAH FOOR
Two North Elementary teachers lived double lives in May.
By day, they taught their students. By night, they tiptoed around Poland to place plastic flamingoes in the yards of willing participants of their “flamingo flock” Relay for Life fundraiser.
The teachers’ double lives were so secret that they preferred their real identities to be hidden. Teacher K.G. goes by the code name “Sunshine” and L.D. answers to “Blackbird” during their nighttime excursions.
The Relay for Life has been in Poland since 2007 and Team North has participated in the event for the last three years. To raise money for their $5,000 fundraising goal for 2011, North Elementary has held change drives, sold candy bars and cookbooks, and held a teacher bake sale.
The flamingo flock fundraiser returned this year after a two-year hiatus.
“We send home a paper for families to volunteer to get flocked. A $10 donation to Team North earns a local family a surprise visit from the flamingoes. They stay for 24 hours and then we surprise a new house,” Sunshine explained of the project.
“The flamingoes are a way to get people talking about the Relay,” explained Blackbird. “Neighbors who may not know what the flamingoes mean will ask and it gets people talking about a fun project for a great cause.”
In Sunshine and Blackbird’s flocking careers of 110 houses and counting, they’ve only gotten caught once.
This year, the flockers have 40 flamingo flocks planned, but hope to add more. If you are a Poland resident interested in supporting Team North with a flamingo flock, contact the team at teamnorthrelay@yahoo.com.
Sunshine and Blackbird will be flocking through June 20 and Poland’s Relay will be July 8-9.