HOPE, Ind. (WTHR) — Some Hope homeowners are waking up to colorful toilets planted on their front lawns.
There is a price for making them go away. Instead of going down the drain, the money is going to schools to help pay for student’s lunches.
Whitney Budd isn’t a plumber, but she gleefully installs toilets in front yards to “Flush Away Hunger.”
“The biggest mission for us is to take care of kids,” Budd said.
Budd and her best friend Stephanie Long have nine kids of their own but found the time and energy to create the Student’s Fund of Hope.
“We’ve had students all in tears so thankful we could help them, multiple times,” Long said.
The colorful and orthodox “Flush Away Hunger” campaign is raising money to pay students’ school lunch bills.
“It is near and dear to my heart,” Whitney explained. “I was that kid in the lunch line, the lunch lady whispered, ‘your account is negative we will take care of that today.’”
Embarrassed homeowners don’t have to be flushed with cash to de-throne themselves.
$10 makes the toilet go away. $20 sends it to a friend. $30 makes sure it never comes back. $40 keeps homeowners off the toilet list, that’s the party pooper option.
Last year, the mom’s said they raised enough money to pay off $9,000 worth of lunch bills, along with field trip fees, school supplies and a variety of student’s expenses.
“If a child needs something, we provide the need no matter what it is,” Budd said. “If a child is in need, we will get it taken care of.”
Although the butt of more than a few jokes, the toilets so far have raised $1,000.
“A thousand dollars can provide almost 2 thousand lunches to students,” Long said. “That’s no laughing matter.”
But is it funny? “It is intended to be funny,” she admitted, as both of them began laughing.
The Flush Away Hunger fundraiser ends Friday, but Student’s Fund of Hope takes donations at any time.
You can visit their Facebook page here for more information.
All of the proceeds are donated to school lunches for the 2019-2020 school year. Photos from each day's events have been posted on Student's Fund of Hope Facebook page.