Students plan an escape fundraiser for suicide awareness

Who can escape to save Christmas in Whoville?

This is the question Glacier High School students Kacy Bitney, Elize Strobel and Sarah Downs pose to the community. The three students have organized an escape room fundraiser to benefit the Nate Chute Foundation for suicide awareness.

The escape room will be open from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18. Participants will be given 25 minutes to solve puzzles and save Christmas.

Groups, up to 10 people at a time, are invited to sign up for 25-minute time slots at https://bit.ly/3pyhLsc. Cost is $10 per person and all proceeds go to the foundation. The escape room will be located at Glacier, 375 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, in the E100 pod.

From planning to execution, the three students organized the fundraiser as their “Community Giving Project,” a DECA Project Management event.

“You have to do some sort of fundraiser, or fundraising, and write an essay. Basically, you’re learning how to give back to the community,” Bitney said.

When brainstorming ideas, the group wanted to do something out of the ordinary, according to Bitney.

“We were brainstorming different ideas of how to do something the school and community would get involved in. We wanted to create something people want to do and have fun with,” Bitney said. “I think all of us have done at least one [escape room]. We had a meeting with some local people who have escape rooms to learn different ways to execute it and ideas on fun puzzles.”

Once the fundraiser is over, the group will reflect on how the event went to develop a presentation for the state DECA Career Development Conference in January and February.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.