Fundraisers held to support Savage family

As the Savages recover from losing their house in a fire earlier this month, the community
has come together to give them a hand up. 

Ryan Fitzmaurice
Jill Carpenter walks Jaylee Scheeler through the steps of assembling and rolling up a taco as a whole group of people do the same in the background Tuesday afternoon.

The eighth grade basketball team of Lovell Middle School held a taco sale Tuesday night for the Savages. The goal was to sell 500 tacos. They nearly sold triple that.

A group of volunteers assembled taco after taco in My Studio Tuesday afternoon. At the end of the day, they had sold 1374 tacos, and raised $4,100 for the family. 

Some 230 pounds of taco meat was ultimately cooked. 

It started with Cameron and Quin Carpenter, according to their mother Jill Carpenter. After hearing of their basketball teammate Scotty Savage and his family’s loss, they told Jill they had to do something. 

“Their words were, ‘Mom, this is so sad! We have to do something! Can we do a taco or bread sale and give their family the money?’” Jill Carpenter recalls. 

Jill Carpenter
Scotty Savage, Andrew Dannar and Quin Carpenter take a moment to flash a smile for the camera as they continue to tackle taco orders Tuesday. 

It was soon decided that a taco sale was the best way to go. The Carpenters worked out the details for how to handle the food end of the sale, the Hitz family worked together to design and print the fliers. The Wardell family designed and delivered taco signup sheets to members of the boys basketball team. They each had a goal to sell 12 tacos each.  The Bassetts and the Tippetts donated ground beef to the cause.

“The majority of the team came to My Studio right after school to help out. They had a ball.  They asked me in their innocence, ‘Can we do a taco Tuesday every week in the studio?’ If only they knew how many hands and service hours by so many kind-hearted and selfless people it takes to pull something like this off,” Carpenter said. 

The taco sale speaks to the communities’ unity and generosity, Carpenter said. 

“The boys and their parents that choose to participate walked away being a part of something much bigger than we ever imagined,” Carpenter said.

The taco sale is not the only fundraiser that is being held this week to support the Savages, according to Lovell Elementary Secretary Esther Garza. Those with students in the elementary school have been asked to send their students with coins to school to donate to the family. On Monday, every student was asked to bring a penny, on Tuesday a nickel, on Wednesday a dime, on Thursday a quarter and on Friday, a dollar.

Staff and the public are welcome to contribute, too, Garza said 

By Ryan Fitzmaurice