The “Game of Thrones” has overtaken Belding. It’s a fundraiser for Project Graduation, a group raising money for seniors at Belding High School to fund a trip for seniors to take together as a last hurrah as a class after graduation. Participants have a toilet dropped off in their yard and pay money to have it removed or sent to someone else, which goes toward the fundraiser. — Courtesy photo
BELDING — A different kind of Game of Thrones has descended upon this city to mark homecoming week.
Some lucky (or unlucky) residents have had their lawns graced with toilets decked out in black and orange with Belding Black Knight insignia. But this isn’t a prank; it’s for a good cause.
Joel Wilker, assistant principal and athletic director of Belding High School, and his wife, Heidi Wilker, a BHS athletic trainer, are shown here with one of the Belding Black Knight decorated toilets that are part of a Project Graduation fundraiser.
The toilets are part of a fundraiser put on by Project Graduation, a group tasked with raising funds for one last outing for seniors as a class before they part ways after graduation.
There are a few ways to handle it if a toilet ends up in the yard, according to Holly Noble, president of Project Graduation.
“It’s $10 to have the toilet removed from your yard, $20 to gift it to a friend and $30 for potty protection insurance so the toilet won’t come back to your yard,” she said. “Most people are doing the potty protection so they’ll pay for the potty protection and it won’t come back and they’ll pick where they want it to go. They’ve been moving from one yard to the next to the next to the next”
So far, no one has taken the $10 option, so the toilets are just going from one house to the next. There are five toilets in circulation. When the project started there were only three, but Noble said it was so popular they added two more.
“We still have a line of people who are waiting, who have said, ‘If it becomes available, let us know. We want it,’” she said.
Noble said the response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive.
“We haven’t had any negative responses,” she said. “A couple people heard it was coming to them, so they said, ‘Hey, we’ll pay ya. Don’t waste your time coming here. We’ll pay ya and send it another family so you can get more the more you move it.’”
Noble said the best part is, for many it’s been a family affair. When the toilet shows up in a yard, people have come out with their kids to take pictures with it before paying to move it to its next location.
Families of seniors have also committed to moving toilets from place to place, taking pictures as they go to build excitement for the next recipients.
In the past, funds raised by Project Graduation have taken the seniors on a dinner cruise with karaoke and a hypnotist, an overnight lock-in at Three Mile Project and bowling in Ionia.
“It’s the last time after graduation they can all do something fun together as their class,” said Shelley Gladding, co-secretary for Project Graduation.
The group does other fundraisers throughout the year, including the annual Powderpuff Football game and pie sales.
The Game of Thrones fundraiser has been quite successful, Noble said, generating about $1,000 so far. Compared to other fundraisers they’ve done, this has brought in quite a lot of money.
Noble said they’re looking to raise about $30,000 for the trip for this school year’s graduating seniors. They’ve confirmed the place where they will take the seniors for their trip, though they haven’t announced the location to the public yet.
“It’s just for fun and for earning money for our seniors’ party,” Gladding said.
The group kicked off the event by leaving the original three toilets at the homes of Superintendent Brent Noskey, Belding High School Principal Michael Ostrander and Kylie Kasmerski, a student at Belding High School.
“We are trying to keep it fun and trying to help make some memories for our kids and their families during homecoming,” Gladding said. “People have been totally embracing this and having a ball.”
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