Willard Middle School student, Crayton, does pushups for pledges
Several students at Willard Middle School had their lunch balances paid off, thanks to the generosity of Sawyer Crayton, a 13-year-old eighth grader at the school. Sawyer took part in Pledges for Pushups, where he completed 111 pushups in three minutes to raise almost $900. A practicing martial artist, Sawyer said his physical conditioning gave him the ability to do the number of pushups he completed.
"I was able to do 111 pushups because I have been training at Dunham’s Martial Arts for almost six years, and I am a level-four black belt," he said. "I practice my pushups a lot, and I like doing push-ups.”
Sawyer conducted the fundraiser as part of a project through Dunham's, which he said encourages giving back to the community. He collected pledges for each pushup he completed, as well as donations. Every person pledged or made a donation had their name entered into a drawing for a four-in-one game table.
Sawyer said he chose to donate his funds towards the middle school lunch accounts to help kids with overdrawn lunch accounts.
"I know a lot of people struggle with that, especially now that school lunches aren’t free any more," he said. "I see a lot of kids not eating lunch or only eating a PB and J, and I wanted to help them.”
This is not the only community service project in which Sawyer has taken part. His mother, Amanda Crayton, said he has raised money for Good-to-Go Mobile, collected canned goods for Ozark Food Harvest and raised funds for Harmony House by raffling off a gift basket.
Sawyer said he would like to be a Major League Baseball player when he is older.
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