Pair unfurl school's flags
—Photo by MARY MALONE Idaho Sen. Shawn Keough, right, presented Darby Neu, center, and Olen Neu, left, with two flags Wednesday for their accomplishment of replacing 28 aged American flags throughout Sandpoint Middle School in November. The American flag shown here flew over the nations capitol in Washington, D.C., as well as over the state capitol in Boise.
—Photo by MARY MALONE Idaho Sen. Shawn Keough, right, presented Darby Neu, center, and Olen Neu, left, with two flags Wednesday for their accomplishment of replacing 28 aged American flags throughout Sandpoint Middle School in November. The state flag shown here flew over the state capitol in Boise.
—Photo by MARY MALONE Sandpoint eight-grader Darby Neu, center, reads a letter from Lt. Gov. Brad Little Wednesday commending Darby and her brother, Olen, left, on replacing 28 of the middle school's flags in November. Idaho Sen. Shawn Keough, right, presented Darby and Olen with two flags, both of which have flown over the state capitol in Boise, and one also flew over the nation's capitol in Washington, D.C.
SANDPOINT — After running a successful campaign to replace 28 Sandpoint Middle School flags, two local youngsters were presented with two flags by Idaho Sen. Shawn Keough Wednesday.
Darby Neu, a Sandpoint Middle School eighth-grader, and her brother, Sagle Elementary sixth-grader Olen Neu, recently organized a Made in America flag campaign by approaching local businesses and starting a gofundme.com account with a goal of $900 — they raised $1,400.
"I thought it was fabulous," Keough said of Darby and Olen's accomplishment. "Very patriotic and really good of them as young folks and scouts to participate and see a need that the flags needed to be replaced, to raise the money to do that, and then reach out to myself and Lt. Gov. Little and allow us to bring the flags from the capitols here."
The first flag presented was an American flag that flew over the United States capitol in Washington, D.C. and then Idaho Congressman Simpson sent to Lt. Gov. Brad Little who had it flown over the capitol in Boise as well.
The flag came with a certificate stating it had flown over the two capitols, as well as a letter from Little commending Darby and Olen on their project. The second was an Idaho state flag that flew over the capitol in Boise.
Darby said the idea to replace the flags started when she and her mom were attending a parent-teacher conference earlier this year.
"We went into my science classroom and we noticed the flag was really, really old and in poor condition, so then my dad and I had the idea to replace all the flags," Darby said.
Her brother, Olen, had the idea to use his Boy Scout troop to retire the flags.
"I thought it would be a fun and interesting project for our troop, and it's going to benefit the community," Olen said.
But Darby said they didn't want just any flags to replace them, they had to be made in America. The cost per flag for Made in America is $25, compared to $3 from China, she said. Within a week of fundraising, the kids exceeded their goal by $500.
"All the extra money is going to buy flags for the other schools in the district," Darby said.
The middle school's new American-made flags were installed in time for Veterans Day in November. After the old flags are properly retired by Olen's troop, the grommets will be given to local veterans.
They did a great job," said SMS Principal Casey McLaughlin of Darby and Olen.
The two flags presented to Darby and Olen are expected to be flown at the middle school by Jan. 1.