HOLLADAY — Olympus Junior High student Elsie Reinemer received a rock star's package Wednesday morning — an autographed copy of the Dave Matthews Band's "Weekend on the Rocks."
"That is so tight!" student leaders said in admiration.
Desperate Housewives, John Travolta, Wayne Gretzky, NASCAR drivers — even the original Luke Skywalker — are shipping autographed photos, balls, jackets, helmets and the like to students at the Granite District school, all because they had the nerve to ask.
But the teens won't take the collections home.
Rather, they'll gladly give them up — all to help their school custodian.
They want to give custodian Terry Birch cochlear implants to help him reach his dream of a career in communications. They want to help his wife, Holli, who is deaf and is being treated for breast cancer, with mounting medical bills. They want to help repair the couple's aging West Valley home, where they live with their four young children — two of whom also are hard of hearing.
The students so far have raised $20,000 to do it. They hope a May 15-25 online auction for the new goods will add to the largesse.
Birch is humbled by the efforts.
"It means a lot to my family," he said. "They were all very surprised and shocked the school would do something like that for us."
As a toddler, Birch lost some hearing and sight in a bout with the measles and tonsillitis, according to the fund-raising Web site, www.Help-Terry.org. Those senses have been diminishing since, leaving him deaf in one ear and with less than 15 percent hearing in the other.
Birch desires a career in communications, be it public relations or seminar training. He studied at the University of Utah and said he enjoyed working at its student newspaper as a copy editor.
But it's getting harder for Birch to see written text anymore. And it's tough to communicate with people when he can't hear them well.
"I like to talk," Birch said. "People don't want to come up to the deaf and say anything because they're too scared."
His family also is struggling with mounting medical expenses from Holli's breast cancer treatments and needed house repairs.
Birch, 40, has worked six years at the school in a relatively behind-the-scenes job.
But once teachers and students learned he could use a hand, Birch has found himself in the school's spotlight.
Last fall, social studies teacher Mira Leffler introduced her students to "Project Citizen," with Birch as the beneficiary.
"They got so excited about it," brainstorming ways to help, Leffler said. The students finally zeroed in on an auction and a November Peter Breinholt benefit concert.
The efforts netted $17,000, she said.
But they kept going.
Student body officers started "change for Terry" coin drops, growing the largesse, with the help of other community donations, to $20,000. They also tracked down and distributed the addresses of hundreds of stars' fan clubs for the whole school to write letters seeking items for another benefit auction.
So far, students' more than 1,000 letters have hooked 50 items, student government advisor and math teacher Andy McIntyre said. They include signed balls from the Indianapolis Colts, NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young and future NBA Hall of Famer Karl Malone. "Gilligan's Island" cast members sent an autographed picture, as did Star Wars' original Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill. Each is sure to fetch a good bid — a 16-by-20 photo of Hamill was listed at $199 Wednesday at the online Bargains-R-Us.
The items go up for auction on eBay May 15-25, McIntyre said.
The school also is working with a local doctor to give the cochlear implants and procedure for free — a donation worth $50,000 to $60,000 — to help Birch hear again.
The cochlear implant could make Birch's dreams — "The ability to communicate with everyone, everywhere," he says — a reality.
Now, students just hope "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" pulls through.
The students petitioned the TV show to fix up Birch's home, which he says has fallen into disrepair and the family has little money to fix. They made a video, where students stood on the field to create the message "We love," and Terry, the man who works hard to make school a nice place for them, standing alone, in the spotlight.
"We thought, for once, we should help him," student body secretary Emily Blackham said. "It makes you feel good. Your whole school, like, cares."
How to help
An eBay auction to benefit Olympus custodian Terry Birch and his family is set for May 15-25.
Bids can be placed through student-designed Web site, www.Help-Terry.org, during that window.
Donations also are being taken through www.Help-Terry.org.
All funds raised will go through the Granite Education Foundation to help the family with medical costs and, hopefully, a cochlear implant.
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com