Hands to Haiti is raising money through another annual teacher v.s. student basketball fundraiser which will be held on Thursday, March 13, in the Main Gym from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets to the game will be sold during lunches for $5 on the week of the game and for $7 at the door.
Members of Hands to Haiti are currently in the early stages of planning for the fundraiser and looking for students and teachers who would like to play in the basketball game. They have also been collecting donations from small businesses around the state and have set up thirty-second basketball shooting contests called “Pop Shots” that are being used as a mini-fundraiser leading up to the main event. According to the club leaders, it is aimed at allowing students to participate in a fun, competitive activity while also raising additional funds for the cause.
According to senior president Mia Votano she feels even more passionate about the club’s progress in comparison to the first basketball fundraiser they held, and is excited about the club’s higher expectations for this year’s fundraiser.
“We learned a lot of important lessons last year about advertising and how to run an event smoothly. So I think we have really high hopes that we’ll be able to kind of have the same outcome or better this year,” Votano said.
Votano also mentions the successes of adding another big fundraiser in the spring, filling up the gap with a more productive and motivational schedule.
“When we [senior vice president Lauren Treible and Votano] took over the club last year, there was only one established fundraiser, Boo Grams, which was our fall fundraiser,” Votano said. “So we realized we had a gap all of spring that we weren’t really doing anything for. We wanted a fundraiser to put in the spring and Lauren actually came up with the idea of [doing] something sports oriented.”
Treible adds that Ty McDonnaugh, the only junior officer in Hands To Haiti, is doing a great job in helping with fundraising efforts, and the current senior leaders are trying to prepare Ty and other future club members for leadership roles when the seniors graduate.
According to Hands to Haiti advisor Beth Beauchesne, the work club members have been devoting to the event has been very impressive.
“Although this is my first year being the club advisor for Hands To Haiti, I really believe that these students have been putting in so much effort for their causes to be seen, and it makes me very proud to see their hard work come into play,” Beauchesne said.
