Becca Neal (left) of Pontiac, raised $260 during the Antique Wooden Boat Show in Hessel to purchase school supplies for students in Les Cheneaux Community Schools. She presented the school supplies to Superintendent Amy Scott. (Photograph courtesy of Pat Feldhake) When eighth grade student Becca Neal was inducted into the Junior National Honor Society at Pierce Middle School in Waterford, she took her newfound membership seriously. The 12- year-old from Pontiac decided that she wanted to help other students.

Miss Neal’s grandparents, Charles and Maureen Neal, live in Hessel, and Miss Neal had heard about the Les Cheneaux Community School that serves more than 300 students from Hessel, Cedarville, and the surrounding area. She decided to raise funds to buy school supplies for those who might struggle to purchase their own supplies.

She enlisted her family for help. Her grandparents provided the place to carry out her mission by letting her use their home by the dock in Hessel during the Antique Wooden Boat Show in August. Her siblings, Bryce, 7, and Hannah, 10, along with her cousins, set up a lemonade stand during Boat Show weekend, while she was in charge of a donation jar and coordinating the collection of soda pop cans for the cause. They managed to raise about $260.

She made a list of items students in kindergarten through 12th grade might need. Next, she asked her parents, Heather and Don Neal, to help her make the rounds to various stores in the Pontiac area to purchase school supplies, which she organized by grade levels.

On a September trip to the Upper Peninsula, Miss Neal and her parents unloaded the school supplies at the library at the Cedarville school.