BILLINGS - On Wednesday, a recent Billings Senior High graduate donated $45,000 to the special needs program at his old school.
The funds came from Demetrios Salarais' nonprofit called Limitless Kids, which aims to bring better opportunities to special needs students in Yellowstone County.
Salarais founded the organization as part of his senior project with the first goal focused on raising money for a multipurpose room at Senior High. The room will give special needs students the ability to practice important things like cooking, cleaning, and sewing.
"We'll have a kitchen and we'll have other utilities," Salarais said Wednesday. "All of it will hope to bring better opportunities for special needs students."
Both Billings Skyview and West High already have one of these multipurpose kitchen areas, which is part of what motivated Salarais to work towards bringing one to his school.
Salarais said the original goal was to reach $20,000, which was hit early in the year, and so they upped the number.
"$20,000 was kind of just thinking like, 'Okay, let's see how this is going to go,'" Salarais said. "Then we hit that number and we were like, 'Well, might as well keep going.'"
Billings Schools Director of Student Services Kevin Kirkman said that the funds generated from Salarais will make a huge impact at Senior High and even district-wide.
"It's going to be a full functioning kitchen and just a huge space for our students to learn and grow," Kirkman said. "I feel like this is going to set the bar for our classrooms throughout the district."
Kirkman said it will reach many students, as the number of those with special needs district-wide continues to grow.
"We have a lot of students that qualify for special education and we're just trying to provide them the best opportunity we can," Kirkman said.
Kirkman said he was impressed with Salarais' commitment to something so impactful for the community.
"It's exciting to see such a young individual take on that role and find a way to provide opportunities for our kids," Kirkman said.
And Salarais said he's not done yet and is already focused on the next project his nonprofit can help with.
"This is not the end," Salarais said. "We're Limitless Kids Montana and we're looking for the next step, the next big thing to help special needs students in Yellowstone County."
