Along with JC Wilson and Colin Darley, I embarked on a project in which the objective was to collect art supplies for the children at Riley Hospital. My sister is a nurse on the stem-cell floor and she informed me a while back that they were in need of a resupply of their art supplies. The supplies are given to patients that are bored and want to something to keep their mind off of things. Luckily, it is the end of the semester and our class sponsor, Mr. Jeremy Large, informed us that there was a large amount of money leftover in the grant account which would have been wasted if we had not used it up. So, we spent over $750 on supplies such as crayons, colored pencils, coloring books, plato, and drawstring bags to make sure that some children could have some activities to do while they are healing. We ordered all of the items and calculated that we could fulfill 120 drawstring bags for the children of Riley Children's Hospital. It only took about a week for all of the Amazon packages to arrive and it didn't more than 45 minutes to pack all 120 bags. Although this project is simple, it is quite effective and I have already received confirmation from my sister that the bags are being dispersed every day to those that want something to keep their mind off of treatment and pain. It was a Godsend that the grant money was avaliable for us to fund this project and be able to provide simple goods to the kids that really need them. This was a great year and I am thankful to Mr. Large and my fellow classmates for working so hard to help our school and community with small and large projects. The projects ranged from small projects such as this one all the way to the large ones, like Hoops for Hope. Almost every student in the class can say that they achieved nothing but success this year and it is all thanks to the support and donations from our teachers, friends, families, and the entirety of the community of New Palestine. For any student that enjoys helping people just because, this class is for you. I learned so much about myself in this class and it was a blessing to be able to participate in.
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I have joined forces with JC Wilson and Colin Darley for my next project, which continues to support Andrew Eyerman. The Hoops for Hope project was an ultimate success and we wanted to continue raising money for Andrew's cause because he deserves it. Our project consists of a car wash where, along with some volunteers, we will be washing cars of New Palestine citizens at Sugar Creek Elementary. Andrew attends Sugar Creek and due to his cancer treatment, he has been unable to attend in-school. So, our idea to have the event there makes it much more personal. We have already contacted Mrs. Jan Kehrt, the principal of Sugar Creek, and have received an approval along with a set date for the event, Sunday, May 1st. We have already put together a list of the materials we will need to successfully operate the car wash and it is dependent on the amount of traction we get from the community. JC will be sending out a post on the New Palestine Community page on Facebook. That is one of the best ways for us, students, to get the word out to the community and make sure the information is properly presented. Also, we will need to gather some volunteers, hopefully other service-learning students, because we want this car wash to be very efficient and quick so the donations are reflective of our work.
We just started to put together this project a couple weeks ago and once we get back from Spring Break (2nd week of April), we will be buckling down and getting everything setup for the "Clean Cars for Cancer" event! The NPHS Hoops For Hope Fundraiser for Andrew Eyerman was an absolute success! After all of the dedication and commitments made by students, staff, community members, and corporate donations we ended up raising over $4,000...in ONE NIGHT! To be honest, this was well over the amount that I was expecting and I couldn't be prouder of how my fellow students worked so hard and if it wasn't for the guidance and dedication from our service learning teacher, Mr. Large, we would have been lost and wouldn't have been able to organize such an amazing night of exciting basketball (New Pal beat Shelbyville 63-60) and generosity. Although the students in my class had individual projects before the Hoops For Hope project became apparent to us, we all dropped what we were working on to help make this event the best it could possibly be and I am so thankful we could be involved with it. Some of us were tasked with putting together donation baskets which consisted of items that local businesses donated to be raffled off. We had over $1,500 in donated goods from our local community and there was plenty of variety that appealed to many different age groups! I was ecstatic when I learned that I got to talk and personally support the kid of the night, Mr. Andrew Eyerman. Due to the treatment that he has been going through in the past few months, Andrew was unable to attend the night but he had the ability to FaceTime and we took advantage of that. I was honored to FaceTime him during the starting line-up announcements and to see the excitement in his eyes when he heard the commotion in our gymnasium is something I'll never forget. This is one of the reasons why living in a small town, such as New Palestine, is such a blessing because we all come together to support each other in times of need.
I was recruited recently by one of the groups in my class to help get donations for a project coming up in February. On February 11th, at the NPHS Basketball game there will be a raffle to raise money for the Eyerman family, in the form of donation baskets. "The “Hoops for Hope” game is a benefit event to help a family in our community pay for their son’s medical expenses as he is currently undergoing cancer treatment. The basketball game will occur as usual, but there will be extra events such as a raffle to increase the amount raised for this family. Students at New Palestine High School are reaching out to local businesses, restaurants, etc. in hopes that they will be willing and able to donate gift cards, items, etc. that can be used for a raffle basket." I am in charge of obtaining items for the "entertainment basket" and it is going very well so far! I have gotten confirmation from Maple Creek Country Club in which they will be donating a full round of golf for four people and a cart ($300 value) and Indianapolis Indians tickets for this spring. I have made calls to the Indy Fuel and the Greenfield Cinema for tickets and have not heard back since. We still have time to collect items but I will have to be more persistent next week. It's very promising to see all of the other items collected. This project is going to be VERY successful!
For the Holiday Season, I worked with a fellow student to set up a senior project to give back to the teachers and staff members of NPHS for all of their hard work and kindness. I felt that the best way to get seniors involved in this was to make it easier for them to participate so we decided to make this project a "Thank You / Happy Holidays" card drive. First, I contacted the NPHS Associate Principal, Mrs. Amy Dawson, and asked for a complete list of all staff members (administration, teachers, office workers, instructional assistants, etc.). We needed to include every employee at NPHS so no one would be left out. We found out that there is 88 staff members on the roster and that raised concerns in regards to the amount of seniors needed to write cards. Then, I sent an email to the entire senior class (NPHS Class of 2022) explaining the project and included a Google Spreadsheet that I created to allow for them to pick a staff member, or two, to write cards for. Within 6 hours of sending out the email, 55 staff members had been "adopted" for the card drive. I immediately felt relieved and appreciative of the initiative of my class. We ended up having all 88 staff members covered for the drive and the variety of cards and designs was very interesting! There were cards personalized to each teacher and it really showed off the dedication and kindness of the senior class. After collecting all 88 cards from a box that I had placed in one of my teacher's classrooms, I will be distributing the cards to the mailboxes of all staff members in the main office. This process of distributing is very consistent and easy to control, but also it saves a lot of time. This is the last week of school before Holiday Break and my hope is that every teacher feels joy and happiness when they go to pick up their normal mail and find a card from the Class of 2022. We as students really appreciate all they sacrifice and do for the betterment of our education. The dedication and time they spend to make sure we are maximizing our learning abilities is a debt that we will never be able to pay back but it can be appreciated by cards such as these. I encourage each class to do so every year after we graduate and I appreciate all the students that participated in this holiday project.
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