By Madeleine SutherlandRecord Staff WriterRobin Meier and Samantha Richardson wanted to raise money to buy Christmas presents for children in the Warren County R-III School District.Their method of fundraising, however, was not conventional.“My son goes to Rebecca Boone and he is starting to catch on to the whole giving concept,” Meier said. “I had purchased some things for the school store before and he kind of said, ‘Mom, wouldn’t it be great if we could give everybody in my school a present for Christmas?’ ”Meier said she was shocked at the idea at first, but then the wheels started turning.“Robin and I just started to talk about fundraising ideas, like how we could raise some money just to help some kids,” Richardson said.Their brainstorming led them to come up with the Throne of Giving. The throne — a bright gold, Christmas-themed toilet — served as the vessel for their fundraising from before Thanksgiving to today.“We were just like, ‘How can we help? What can we do? Let’s make it fun and something that no one has seen!’ ” Meier said.The women’s original plan was to place an ugly toilet, which was donated to them by Michelson’s Plumbing and Heating, in yards around town. People could then pay to have the toilet removed.The two quickly changed their mind, however, and decided to decorate the toilet with holiday spirit, decking it out with a miniature Christmas tree and snowman.The throne began its first night in the community on the property of Michelson’s Plumbing Nov. 25.“From there we started getting phone calls and messages saying, ‘I want to do this. What is this for?’ ” Meier said.The project quickly snowballed. Richardson said that businesses began paying for the toilet to not only be removed from their own property, but sent directly to someone else’s. Both Meier and Richardson’s husbands move the toilet every 24 hours.“It caught on a little bit better than we thought. We thought people would just pay to get it out of their yard when really they were paying to get it moved around town,” Meier said.Each time a business or resident wanted the Throne of Giving to be moved somewhere else, they paid $25. If they wanted to find out who had sent the throne to their property, they could pay an additional $5.“And we’re getting more than what we’ve asked for,” Richardson said. “A lot of people have donated like $100.”To make sure the proceeds of their project reached families who needed them, Meier and Richardson teamed up with Care to Learn, an organization that provides assistance for health, hunger and hygiene for any child with no questions asked.Jill Schowe, who is the Care to Learn coordinator for the R-III school district, served as the liaison for the project.Richardson said she believes the group has raised around $1,000.“When we were thinking about it at first we thought it would just be individuals, like personal yards, but when really the businesses have stepped up here in Warren County. I’m very impressed with them,” Meier said.While in the beginning the group just wanted their focus to be on buying toys for Christmas, their initiative changed as they found more and more families in need of other items. They began buying clothes, bikes and shoes in addition to toys.Meier and Richardson said that they are planning to bring back the Throne of Giving next year.The group enlisted the help of friends Dec. 15 when they began their first day of wrapping items. Meier said they would continue to meet until all items were wrapped and ready for delivery to families.“It’s helping the kids in our schools,” Meier said. “And 100 percent of the money that is raised stays right here in Warren County.”Pictured above are some of the volunteers who helped wrap Christmas presents purchased from funds raised as part of the Throne of Giving campaign. Pictured, from left, are Casey Burton, Jessica Schanuel, Stacey Haller, Samantha Richardson, Robin Meier (kneeling) and Mary Raterman. Madeleine Sutherland photo.
