Riverton students gather $60,000 for rehab center

Riverton High School raised more than $52,000 for Odyssey House, plus in-kind contributions valued at more than $8,000, the school announced Wednesday.

Student leaders raised the money in three weeks through classroom contests and by caroling outside grocery stores and performing odd jobs in the community, from cleaning houses to hanging sheet rock.

"Silver Rush," as the annual fund-raiser is called, aims to educate students about social issues. Students selected as their beneficiary Odyssey House, a nonprofit treatment facility for drug and alcohol addiction, emotional problems and anti-social behavior, after grieving peer deaths from suicide and drug overdose. Students in a survey last spring also cited drug and alcohol abuse as their top concern.

Each day, students worked to educate peers about drug and alcohol abuse, addiction and recovery.

Wednesday, students revealed the fruits of their labors at an emotional assembly, where the Odyssey House choir performed and students stood to sing with them and cheer them on, said Jenicee Jacobson, student government advisor and social studies teacher.

"There are so many outcomes of this," Jacobson said. "The ripple effect on how it will affect people's lives, they're countless."