Hands to Haiti is preparing for their annual Boo Grams to be distributed at school on Friday, Oct. 31 with all proceeds going towards supporting Haiti’s education system.
This will be Hands to Haiti’s fifth year selling the Boo Grams which are small bags filled with candy that people can buy for their friends or themselves. Hands to Haiti’s overall goal is to collect money to donate to the Matenwa Learning Community in Haiti.
According to Hands to Haiti president and junior Ty McDonough, planning for this event has been ongoing since the beginning of the year. The main discussion points during club meetings have been about the club’s marketing strategies on top of collecting the candy for the Boo Grams.
“There have not been many challenges as our e-board is very responsible with everything they do and we have been staying on top of most things,” McDonough said. “However, right now the main challenge is finding times for us to meet and figure out details, especially with the busy school schedules of our club members.”
According to club adviser and Spanish teacher Beth Beauchesne, the way students purchase Boo Grams has stayed relatively the same with minor changes every year. This year, club members have been selling Boo Grams during lunch blocks throughout the week of Oct. 20 which is similar to the way they were sold in 2023 and 2024.
Hands to Haiti has been selling Boo Grams and actively raising awareness for Haiti for multiple years, specifically since 2020.
“We have distributed in many ways in the past like going and handing them out, sending out mass emails, and letting students know they will be receiving a Boo Gram during lunch,” McDonough said.
When a student is told that they have received a Boo Gram, they also learn who their sender was or if their sender decided to stay anonymous.
The Boo Grams were initially priced higher, around $4.00, but with lower interest from students around Westford Academy, the cost has dropped to $3.00.
“Our sales were down in 2024 compared to what they were in 2023. We were looking for ways to revamp Boo Grams so that they were more enticing for students to buy,” Beauchesne said. “We lowered the price this year in hopes of bringing in more sales and topping the results of last year’s Boo Grams.”
The club made the decision to take out the non-candy items that were in last year’s Boo Gram bags, meaning this year, the bags will just be filled with candy. Removing excess items helped lower the price of the bags.
“Our hope is to have the Boo Grams be a hit and to have gathered enough proceeds to really make a difference,” Beauchesne said.
According to Beauchesne, the club is excited to see how this year goes and to find out how they can improve this event in the future.
