Cardboard houses sat in the center of Highlander lunch tables. Those containers, filled with recycled pop tabs help The Ronald McDonald House, a non-profit organization supporting sick children and their families.
The ten-day drive ran from March 12 to March 22 and was led by Madeline Gehl, junior. Her involvement was inspired by her sister’s friend’s past battle with cancer. This drive is one of many Gehl hopes to accomplish at Homestead.
“Participation was okay. I think if people knew more about the Ronald McDonald House and the cause it supports they would donate more. I hope to get a slide created for the Homestead TVs and keep talking about the drive to further increase donations. I will definitely continue to run drives similar at Homestead,” Gehl said.
A Homestead student, Noah Leis, sophomore, commented on the fundraiser and the participation, with similar sentiments from Gehl’s above.
“My first thought when I saw the houses was they would probably get thrown away or trashed, but they stayed up for a surprising amount of time. I didn’t donate because I don’t drink soda very much but if I could, I would. I think if there was a bigger introduction to the fundraiser and more people knew about it and what it was for they’re might be more participation,” Leis said.
Micah Adams, social studies teacher and lunch monitor, elaborated on possible reasons for lack of participation.
“I haven’t seen any disrespectful actions with the houses, but I also didn’t see many donations. I don’t think it’s a cause kids necessarily know or care about and the aspect of if you donate, are your friends gonna give you crap for donating? Especially at lunch,” Adams said. “It’s a puzzle.”