By Harold Reutter
harold.reutter@theindependent.com

"He wanted to hit Brian Sybrandts in the face with a pie," Mazour said.

Payne got his wish, as his was the first name drawn. That gave him the pick of eight staff members who volunteered to get a whipped cream pie in the kisser.

There was no question that Sybrandts would be his pick. After whitening the physical education teacher's face with whipped cream, Payne took a photo of the big moment.

Having Sybrandts get hit in the face with a tin of whipped cream was perhaps appropriate. He helped promote the event, which he said raised $183 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation that grants wishes to children who have life-threatening illnesses.

"It's a good foundation," said Sybrandts, who noted that it makes sense for a K-8 school to raise money for a project that benefits young people.

He noted that this year's event raised more than last year's did.

Sybrandts said the idea of giving teachers a faceful of whipped cream was developed after rules were changed to prohibit candy sales during school hours as a fundraiser for any cause, no matter how worthy.

One by one, seven more students' names were drawn from the hat, with each young person then choosing the teacher they wanted to plaster with whipped cream.

Wade Siljenberg chose Daniel Deida, Kayla Peters chose JaLena Clement, Karinne Jurey picked Tammy Chohon, Abbie Anderson picked Brett Jurey, Megan Burt selected Trish Hostetler and Nathan Hempel chose Mazour.

Rachel Jacobsen was tempted to hit Sybrandts in the face with a second pie, but acquiesced to popular demand and chose the last staff member standing with face untouched, paraprofessional Kim Quandt.

While only eight students were selected to sling whipped cream, even the nonthrowing students had a good time, laughing and applauding for all the whitened faces.

All the recipients of the whipped cream also emerged laughing and smiling.

The pie throwing was combined with a pep rally for the District 1-R basketball team.

After the big school assembly, Sybrandts noted that District 1-R students had raised "close to $2,000, maybe a little over $2,000" through another fundraiser called Jump Rope for Heart. That money will go to the American Heart Association, which Sybrandts said is another good cause.

Again, that was more money than was raised last year, when students collected about $1,300.

"It's another great cause," Sybrandts said.