“Anybody Can Donate!”

The fundraising campaign for the 2010 senior class trip to the Dominican Republic is nearly over. However, in order for the seniors to reach their goal of raising $2000, additional work must still be done.

Senior class representative Madison Mikhail says the seniors have been working extremely hard to raise enough money in order to make an impact in the Dominican Republic. Although the trip is organized by Worthington Christian High School and SCORE International, each year the seniors themselves are expected to collect and distribute charitable funds.

“The money is going to the ‘Feed the Village Project,” Mikhail explained: “It will be used to feed a number of poor families for up to 10 days!”

The impact that Worthington Christian students are able to make on the people of the Dominican Republic each year is incredible. However, the senior leaders are discovering that fundraising comes with many challenges. The leaders include Mikhail, as well as seniors Gina Boucouras, Carrie Chodzin, Ally Krietemyer, and Cristina Mace.

The team has initiated several new and creative ideas for raising the funds this year. They have held multiple bake sales, Valentine’s Day carnation sales, and even organized a dollar jean day. “Dollar jean day raised a lot of money because everyone was able to participate in it,” senior Cristina Mace commented: “Not everyone wants a cupcake.”

The underclassmen’s responses to this year’s campaign have been mixed. Junior Josh Petrel said that “This year’s fundraising has been awesome,” while his fellow classmate, Jake Berlin, thinks that the advertising could have been better. Both agreed that if the events had been better advertised, the amount of money collected to this point would be greater.

Everyone seems to enjoy a different aspect of the campaign. Freshman Kari Inboden commented that the Valentine’s Day carination sale was very fun, while her fellow classmate Courtney Helmuth favored the bake sales and said that she “really liked the food the seniors made.” Although the underclassmen provided mixed reviews, comments by the senior class were fairly positive. “Dollar jean day was absolutely incredible,” senior Caleb Palumbo noted: “We should do it more often!”

“One major contribution to the significant amount of money raised is the generosity of the students,” said Mikhail. Without the support of WCS students, the efforts by these girls would be hindered. “Worthington Christian students have everything they need,” Chodzin stated: “they shouldn’t be self centered.” She believes that it is extremely important to give to the less fortunate.

Mikhail commented that “If we don’t raise enough money, it will break my heart to turn families away and not be able to give them food.” This thought alone should be enough to encourage young people to give to this great cause. None of the money raised will be used for the benefit of the senior class but instead will all go to the families who truly need it.

Recently, the senior girls organized additional events in which people were able to donate money for this significant cause. In the week preceding the trip, Mikhail and her team were involved in another bake sale, doughnut day, and cereal day, all of which were extremely successful. All the girls working on this project say that anybody can donate! There are people in need all over the world and the students of the Class of 2010 have the chance and ability to make an impact. No matter how miniscule their impact may seem, the seniors believe their duty is to rise to the occasion and help feed the Dominican people.