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Teachers may be sacrificing their paychecks and students are bringing bags of pennies garnished from piggybanks, but it looks like Meridian School, which had to raise nearly $200,000 to meet expenses to finish out the school year, is going to make it.
Finance clerk Gail Higgins said the Provo private school had raised about $250,000 as of Thursday afternoon, but teachers had volunteered to go without pay if the school needed the money, which pushed Meridian to its fundraising goal. It had until Thursday to raise $293,000.
"I think what the board is feeling right now is we've made it," Higgins said.
School spokeswoman Kris Crowther said the donations came in steadily Thursday and the mood at the school was optimistic.
The fundraising total continued to climb throughout Thursday. Higgins said the school will be taking donations up until the last minute to save teachers who volunteered to go without pay to keep the school afloat. Higgins hopes they won't need the teachers' money.
"We want to raise as much as we can so they don't have to have that happen," Higgins said.
The school hadn't been meeting expenses because enrollment was continuing to dip and it was borrowing against the next year's tuition to cover expenses and build programs.
"We're not balancing our books because we were always borrowing from next year," said Sean Warnick, vice chairman of the school's board of trustees. "Where we want to go next we need to change models."
The school is planning to move from its current location at 931 E. 300 North in Provo to 280 S. 400 East in Orem and become a viable business come August.
"I hope that people will come to the new Meridian," Crowther said.
To donate, contact Higgins at the school at (801)374-5480.
• Brittani Lusk can be reached at 344-2549 or at
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