North Butler student helps raise funds to benefit Hope for Life Pregnancy

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

Keeping a night light glowing and making sure there aren’t any monsters lurking in the closet can help put children’s minds at ease before it’s time to go to sleep.

A story read by mom or dad doesn’t hurt, either.

Nadia Treichel vividly remembers nighttime storytime before her parents tucked her into bed.

“My parents read to me every single night when I was kid,” she said.

So the North Butler High School senior decided to do something special to help other Floyd County children experience those precious childhood memories.

Treichel, a soon-to-be Drake University student, helped raise $1,500 that was donated to the Hope for Life Pregnancy Center in Charles City.

She was also able to organize a book drive that saw five boxes and one bag full of books collected at 10 drop spots in Allison, Greene and Charles City.

Those books – all 600 of them – were dropped off at the center this week along with the four-figure check that was presented to Hope for Life Director Gayle Opp.

“It’s amazing to have a young person have so much drive for something so important,” said Opp, who was hired as director in October.

Hope for Life is a pro-life ministry and volunteer-driven facility that helps women or families that are dealing with unplanned pregnancies. Opp said the women that utilize the center’s services range in age from 16 to 28.

“The main focus is to have a safe place for women in a crisis pregnancy to go to find support and be loved.” Opp said.

Treichel came up with the idea to assist Hope for Life after reading a brochure that described its services. The center also has a large selection of baby clothes and other supplies that can assist an expectant mother or one who has just given birth.

After consulting with her mother, who works at Floyd County Medical Center, and taking a tour of Hope for Life to understand their needs, Treichel went to work.

“I think reading to your kids is really important,” she said. “It just kind of went from there.”

Treichel decided to undertake this gift-giving endeavor as part of a service project for the National Honor Society. In addition to mentors, teachers and community leaders who provided her with direction on the project, a Wartburg Leadership and Service Summit in Waverly proved especially fruitful.

“They pretty much helped me set up my project,” said Treichel. “I knew I wanted to raise money, but I wasn’t exactly sure how.”

That’s when a friend suggested hosting outdoor movies as an option.

“I was like, ‘that is a fantastic idea!’ Because it was nice outside and everybody can come and watch like a classic movie outside and donate five dollars,” said Treichel.

She knew her uncle who loves to camp had a gigantic portable movie screen and projector that would be perfect for the project. Treichel’s plan was to show three separate movies in Allison, Greene and in Charles City.

But she soon realized that setting up the movie nights wasn’t going to be that easy when she found out there are such things as copyright laws that need to be adhered to.

“I wanted to make sure I didn’t go to prison,” laughed Treichel.

But yet again, supporters didn’t let her down. Anonymous donors covered the roughly $200 it took to be in accordance with the copyrights of the three family-friendly movies she wanted to show – ”Footloose” (1984 cult classic version), “Goonies,” and “Wonder.”

The first film was screened in August in Allison and Treichel said it had to be moved indoors because it started raining. The one in Greene, where Treichel lives, took place in October and had around 60 or 70 people attend that paid the $5 price of admission. The September viewing was shown at the “R” Campground in Charles City.

“There was some guy from Texas there camping in the end of September. It was so cold outside. I don’t know why he was camping in Iowa. He donated like $200,” said Treichel. “He was crying in the back at the movie. That’s when we played “Wonder.” It was awesome. It was a really awesome experience.”

Treichel said about $800 was generated from the sale of tickets to see the movies or for food purchased at the shows. Around $700 was donated from various sponsors or contributors to round out the check for approximately $1,500 that Opp received.

“This is crazy. I had no idea this was going to be this big of a project. I am so glad that it was,” said Treichel.

Treichel said her parents helped her out a lot and a local library allowed her to print color posters for free to get out the word about movie times or locations books could be dropped off.

The 10 drop spots were located at Lincoln Savings Bank in Greene and Allison, as well as Black Sheep Coffee Baa in Greene. First Citizens Bank and First Security Bank in Charles City each accepted books, and the North Butler elementary and high school also took part. The Floyd County Medical Center hospital and clinic had three drop spots for the books.

The majority of the books donated were children’s books and early chapter books.

“Honestly, I’m shocked by the amount of books that we got,” said Treichel. “I knew it was going to be a lot but I was not expecting that many.”

Treichel said she went to school with a girl who got pregnant and had to graduate early.

“She missed a whole bunch of stuff that she enjoyed doing because she had to start working full time,” said Treichel.

Treichel said no matter how you feel about sensitive subjects such as abortion, foster care and teen or unwanted pregnancy, more people need to get involved who can help out.

“You need to be doing something to help your community because that can be anybody,” said Treichel. “No place is immune. No school is immune.”