High School Fundraiser 'Kind of Personal' for Students

When members of Moorestown High School's student council took it upon themselves to rewrite the school's spring pep rally as a team competition, with each team raising money for a different charity, they knew it would be a challenge.

March's Colors for Causes event was both a philanthropic success (though not as much as the students would have liked), as well as a learning experience. 

"Planning (Colors for Causes) was a lot different from planning a pep rally, because with a pep rally you have a lot of precedent," said sophomore Steven Ai. "There’s a lot more creativity (with this), but there’s also a lot more variables associated with it, because it’s a new thing … You need to put a lot more thought into it."

The day revolved around two main activities: a volleyball tournament and a 5k walk/run, and students paticipating in either were asked to seek sponsors to pledge a certain amount of money to one of four charities: the Foundation for Breast and Prostate Health, the American Red Cross, the Ronald McDonald House and the Epilepsy Foundation of Western Central Pennsylvania.

Senior Alex George said the inspiration for Colors for Causes—and particularly the inclusion of the Epilepsy Foundation as one of the beneficiaries—stemmed from the death of classmate Paige Holland, a junior. Holland, who suffered from epilepsy, died in October 2012 from complications related to surgery.

The event "was kind of personal for the school," said freshman Julie Baum.

When it was all said and done, the school raised the following:

• $114.25 for the Ronald McDonald House  
• $110.41 for the American Red Cross
• $130.75 for the Foundation for Breast and Prostate Health
• $260 for the Epilepsy Foundation of Western Central Pennsylvania

Also, $100 will be donated to MooreKids.

The haul wasn't as big as the students had hoped, but it gives them something to build on next year, they said.

"Once we tell everybody the amount of money we raised and the good things we did by just participating in that day, I think they’ll have more desire to even show up," said sophomore Brian Trainer. "Once they see what good the day did, they’ll definitely be more enthusiastic next year."

But the students' takeaway from the day was about much more than dollars and cents.

"We really did enjoy the day and really thought the cause was something admirable and we're really happy we did it," said George. "There’s a lot of things we want to improve on; there’s a lot of things we want to keep the same … Overall, we were pretty happy with it."