Ollie raises money to aid area youth
By Shelby Fenner
When Christmas season comes, most
kids don’t think of it as a time for giving but
as a time for receiving. This would not be
true for one Yutan 10-year-old boy.
Oliver Egr is only in the fourth grade and
all he wants to do is give rather than receive.
This year was Oliver’s second consecutive year of collecting money from people
in order to buy presents for kids in the
Saunders and Douglas county area who
don’t receive that many gifts or any at all.
This random act of kindness took place
at the Yutan fire station on Dec. 6, where
Ollie stood by the door and collected money
from anyone willing to donate.
“We had donations from Alabama,
Texas, Oregon, and obviously the state of
Nebraska, but I’m still getting donations. I
had one from Hawaii,” said Oliver’s mom,
Susie Egr.
Oliver is a bright 10-year-old boy who
was diagnosed with Battens Disease when
he was 6 years old. Battens Disease affects
your eyesight and will eventually turn you
completely blind.
“He doesn’t get to do things like normal
kids get to do, like go out for sports or be
in some activities sometimes because of
his eyesight and his disease stops him from
doing it. He feels this gives him purpose,”
Susie said. “Sometimes he forgets words or
sometimes doesn’t understand things that a
10-year-old boy would, but the things he
does understand is how to love somebody
and how to give.”
Giving to people can make you feel
differently afterwards, most of the time that
different feeling deals with being happier.
Oliver said it makes him feel, “Kind of
happy cause I get the money for them, and
kind of happy cause I get presents from the
store for me sometimes and for them, too.”
Along with collecting money, the Egrs
and Yutan Volunteer Fire Department also
sold “Ollie’s Mission” t-shirts, with all
proceeds going towards buying presents.
Susie and the Yutan Volunteer Fire Department started having meetings about Ollie’s Mission six weeks in advance and Susie
said that the shirts were the fire department’s
idea. They wanted Ollie to design them.
“Since Ollie talks about Santa, Jesus and
God, that is what he wanted on the shirt and
he wanted them red and green,” Susie said.
They decided to add a few more activities the kids could do at the fire hall this year.
“Fat Brain (toy store) wanted to come
set up a play station and things that kids
could feel and interact with since that’s how
Ollie’s world is,” Susie said.
Oliver wouldn’t be able to do this
without a little help. His mom, the Yutan
Volunteer Fire Department, and the community have helped Oliver.
The fire department gave Oliver a location for his mission of collecting money.
“They saw how much joy it brought to
families and kids that are less fortunate and
how much joy it brought Ollie,” Susie said
about the fire department.
The community helped advertise the
event.
“The community now understands what
Ollie’s mission is. Last year was the first
year and people were just hearing about it
and now they have recognized what Ollie’s
mission is,” Susie said.
Along with the community, staff at Yutan High School also helped donate money
to Oliver and his mission.
The student council made all profits for
a week from the vending machine go to Ollie and his mission, and math teacher Rod
Henkel told his math classes if they wanted
to they could donate money to a jar he had
throughout the week. He took it down to
Susie on Friday afternoon.
“So many of us connected to Ollie in
different ways, it kind of just clicked, ” said
student council sponsor Chris Feller.
The student council members delivered
a card with all the money to Ollie on Dec. 6.
Ollie’s words after opening the card full of
money, “Holy cow!” Oliver and his family
would like to thank the student council for
their donation.
“I saw how much joy it brought him and
it makes him feel like he is important and
that he is helping others instead of others
are helping him,” Susie said
Although Egr has this disease, it doesn’t
stop him from wanting to do nice things for
other people.
“If he hears a kid gets hurt or a kid
doesn’t have enough money or if a family
is sick he always will ask ‘How can we help
them, mom?’ or ‘how can I help them?’”
Susie said.
Egr plans to continue doing his mission
“We will do it as many years as Ollie
wants to do it. So, right now he wants to do
it next year,” Susie said.
Remember the magic of Christmas lies
in your heart.
Yutan High School
Shelby Fenner