From Feb. 1-8, HR participated in Wish Week, a week long fundraiser to raise money for a child suffering from leukemia. Over $27,000 was made through several events and activities planned out by Student Senate.
According to the National Cancer Institute, 9% of people under the age of 20 are diagnosed with leukemia. Luke is one of these people. He is a five year old boy who has been battling leukemia for nearly two years. His one dream is to go on a Disney Cruise with his family, and now that dream can become a reality.
“Senate planned and executed the entire week from every event, to communicating with Make a Wish, counting pennies, and collecting money,” said Brad Odice, Senate teacher. Senate raised money by holding different events such as restaurant nights and Miracle Minutes throughout the week. “The final numbers are still being calculated but we’re approaching upwards of $25,000. That surpassed all of our expectations,” Odice said.
Along with events, such as the Amazing Race, Senate also set up a dress up week. Each day, there was a certain theme that people could participate in. All of these themes were created based on things that Luke likes. For example, one day, the theme was green for Luke’s favorite color.
Although Wish Week made a huge impact on HR, the impact it made on the community was not as big as Senate would have liked. Odice said, “We definitely reached out to the community, but we’re always looking to get feeder schools more involved, along with parents, and businesses.”
As a whole, Senate was happy with the overall results. “I think that they (Senate) felt pretty good about the results and the assemblies. As always, we would love to have more students at the assemblies to show their support, but overall, I think that both events and assemblies turned out great,”said Odice.
Sidney Smith, junior, said, “It gave me a different perspective on how much work actually goes into planning something like this, and because of that, I was more passionate about the whole week. I wanted other people to feel the same way, and see all of our hard work pay off.”
The goal was to raise $5,000, but over the course of the week, over $27,000 was raised. This means that Luke’s wish was fulfilled, and the extra money was used to grant two other kids wishes.
Wish Week provides the perfect opportunity to help someone in need. In terms of doing this again next year, Odice said, “I would definitely consider doing it again. My favorite part of Wish Week was meeting Luke’s family, and knowing that we made a difference for not only Luke, but also the people who are close in his life.”
Paige Martin, Staff Reporter
