NILES — Brandywine Elementary School students said you do not have to know Izaak Baiz well to see his kindness and humor shine.

“He’s really fun and funny,” said Acie Kirtdoll, who plays baseball with him.

“He’s a really nice guy,” said schoolmate Liam Oleson-Shackelford.

When the two Brandywine students found out their fellow sixth grader was undergoing surgery for an infection in the brain, they and other students took part in a schoolwide event to show their love and support.

On Thursday, students and staff wore his favorite colors, red and orange, to support him as he recovered from a surgery last Friday.

Brandywine Elementary students and staff donated a minimum of $1 to do so, with all proceeds going to Izaak’s family. In one day, the group of third- to sixth-grade students raised $775.

“Heartwarming,” “amazed” and “grateful” were words that came to mind for Shawna Chavers, of Niles, when she heard about the funds raised. She is a close friend of the family. They consider her to be Izaak’s aunt.

“To think that elementary kids were able to raise this money in a day just shows you how close-knit we are,” she wrote to Leader Publications. “Truly amazing.”

She wrote that the money will be used to help Izaak’s mother, Nikki, stay at home to care for him. Nikki is a full-time nurse, and donations will be used to fund bills, meals and gas for trips to and from Izaak’s bedside.

Brandywine Elementary’s donation will complement the donations gathered through a GoFundMe page Izaak’s family began. At the time of publishing, it had raised $2,260 of its $5,000 goal from 44 donors.

“Thank you to everyone, for everything they have done and continue to do,” wrote Chavers on behalf of Nikki while she cared for her son.

Izaak first began feeling sick in early January. A bump had appeared over his left eyebrow and he began to symptoms of a sinus infection.

The sickness transgressed into a bad headache, trouble concentrating, a fever and loss of feeling on one side of Izaak’s body.

After an urgent care trip and an emergency room trip that Nikki wrote offered little solutions, she called for an ambulance, which lead to physicians identifying and operating on a brain infection at Beacon Health System Memorial Hospital in South Bend last Friday.

Now, Izaak is recovering well, Chavers wrote.

“We used a baseball reference earlier on, saying he was rounding first base,” she wrote. “I believe he has rounded it and stole second now. All the tubes and wires are gone, [but] he does still have his feeding tube.”

On Wednesday, he was able to say, “Hi” for the first time in days, she said. Hours later, he was able to sit up in a chair.

If Izaak continues to recover well, he may be able to read the posters and cards his schoolmates, baseball teammates and friends have created for him over the past few days.

To follow Izaak’s journey, Chavers said to follow the Facebook page, FightingIzaak.