The aroma of freshly popped popcorn floats down the hallway of the 200 wing, filling the noses of starving students with that heavenly movie-theater smell. Suddenly they realize that every time they walk through the math hallway, it smells like they have just walked in the door of a Marcus Cinema. While most students know for sure that they want to be in whatever class makes popcorn every day, they may not know the reason behind it or what room the snack even comes from.

Students who are currently taking or have taken a computer science class in Room 207, or whose friends have spread the word, however, know that people buy the popcorn, as well as other healthy snacks and drinks, to support the Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer (MACC) Fund. Ms. Kathleen Connelly, computer science teacher, got involved with the MACC Fund in an unfortunate way, as some of her students had cancer while at Homestead. “The MACC Fund was helping them,” Ms. Connelly said.

As a another way to support this cause, Ms. Connelly participates in the Trek 100, a 100-mile bike ride throughout Southeast Wisconsin and stated that it is “the MACC Fund’s biggest fundraiser.”

According to trek100.org, “the Trek 100 is in its 25th year, and has raised more than $11.5 million to help fight childhood cancer and related blood disorders.”

Although Ms. Connelly and other Homestead teachers have ridden in the Trek 100, it was the students who came up with the idea to sell snacks and drinks to raise money for the Fund instead of simply asking for donations. “The students said, ‘hey, instead of just asking for checks…why don’t you just have like water, juice, that kind of stuff, and if we’re thirsty, we’ll buy it. So that was all their idea,” Ms. Connelly explained.

As stated by Ms. Connelly, she and Mr. Scott Nettesheim, computer science teacher, ride on Team Jeremy Rosen since Jeremy was a Homestead alum. “He was one of my basketball players; unfortunately, he passed away. But he successfully battled it [Ewing’s Sarcoma] for eight years.”

According to Team Jeremy Rosen’s team page on the Trek 100 website, Ms. Connelly and Mr. Nettesheim together raised over two thousand dollars for the bike ride, while in total their team of 10 raised over thirteen thousand dollars for the foundation, which usually takes place in early June.

There is a wide variety of snack choices residing in the MACC Fund cabinet, students can pick out granola bars, popcorn, Goldfish, fruit snacks, Vitamin Water and more, leaving their payment in the jar below the cabinet. Everything costs one dollar, except for smaller items which are two for a dollar.

“I think the water is popular, [and] the juice (100 percent juice),” Ms. Connelly said. “I think the fruit leathers are popular. Some of the 100 percent whole grain stuff is popular.” Some students showed disappointment when the stacks of Pop-Tarts disappeared from the cabinet, but “we can’t sell those anymore because of the new regulations,” Ms. Connelly said.

Just because there are healthy, tasty snacks available for purchase for a good cause, however, doesn’t give students an excuse to leave class and come back with three packs of fruit snacks and loud granola bars, disrupting the rest of their class. ” We don’t want to disturb classes,” Ms. Connelly said. ” If it’s okay with the teacher, it’s fine; just come in, help yourself, put the money in the jar. We never want to cause problems in classes.”

The MACC Fund snack cabinet and the teachers in Room 207 quietly raise money for kids with cancer, without going over the top to try to get people to come in and buy items. “It’s really a lot of the honor system, and we don’t publicize it on purpose, because we’re not trying to compete with anybody…if you want to support the MACC fund, just help yourself, you know, put it in the jar,” Ms. Connelly concluded.