By Matt Mackinder
Clarkston News Editor

CLARKSTON — The holiday season is generally known as a time for giving.
For Sarah Schneider, owner of The Fed restaurant on Main Street, she has her eyes set on giving $10,000 to Clarkston SCAMP, a five-week summer day program developed and designed for children and young adults with special needs covering a wide variety of both emotional and physical diagnoses.
Last month, Schneider was one of 12 people invited to take part in a Christmas tree decorating contest with Gardner White Furniture, “Twinkle Town at Gardner White.” Each of the 12 contestants chose their favorite charity, and Schneider selected SCAMP. Gardner White will give $10,000 to the charity selected by the contest winner.
The kickoff to the contest was Nov. 9 and voting will end in four weeks on Dec. 13.
“It’s so hard to put into words what this would mean to SCAMP,” said Clarkston SCAMP Executive Director Amy Darnell. “First, to be selected as someone’s favorite charity, especially someone like Sarah who is so kind and well respected in our community, is simply a blessing. SCAMP is beloved by our families. However, to know that someone in our community like Sarah embraces our organization and our mission to this degree speaks volumes that we are doing the right thing for our special needs population. Second, $10,000 is a huge amount of money to any organization.
“However, to a small organization like Clarkston SCAMP, it will make a huge impact. Due to the nature of our organization in both size and scope, we are ineligible for many of the larger grants offered to the nonprofit sector. A gift of this magnitude opens more possibilities for adventures and programming for our SCAMPers.”
To vote for Schneider’s Whimsical tree, visit gardwhit.co/twinkle. Voting is unlimited.

PHOTO: Sarah Schneider and her daughter Willa stand by the tree that is now part of a contest. Photo provided