Normal school fundraiser vies to bring Justin Bieber to town

NORMAL -- Epiphany School in Normal may be penciling in a visit by pop superstar Justin Bieber.

Epiphany School in Normal is participating in a fundraising contest in which the grand prize is a local appearance by pop superstar Justin Bieber.

The personal appearance is the grand prize for schools participating in the singer's personally endorsed Pencils of Promise fundraising campaign.

Pencils of Promise, also known as PoP, provides money for the building of schools around the world and creating educational opportunities for underprivileged children.

As of today, a dozen seventh-grade girls representing Epiphany School had raised more than $5,000 over the past two months, with $3,000 of that total collected in the last three days alone, said Michelle Massey, mother of one of the girls, Christine Travis.

Epiphany is currently ranked at around seventh place among schools across the country participating.

"I think it's amazing what they've done," Massey said.

Though Bieber originally said he would visit only the No. 1 fund-raising school, he has since amended that promise to visiting the top five schools, said Massey.

The Epiphany girls have until 10:59 p.m. Thursday to raise more funds and crack the Top 5.

Source: Pantagraph