All the turkey has been eaten and there’s no more pumpkin pie to be had. As families make their treks home, the student body at Old Rochester Regional High School is flung into the festive holiday spirit. With only about three weeks left until winter vacation, the Student Council is kicking off the holiday season with a fundraiser.
The Candy Cane Fundraiser aims to raise money for three to five families in need in the Tri-Town. School Nurse Kim Corazzini will hand-select the families who most need the financial assistance during the holiday season, ensuring the money will go where it is needed, while keeping all recipients anonymous.
During lunches, four jars will be set up, one for each grade: freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Students are asked to put spare change into their respective jars, which will be set up from December 1 until December 18. What do candy canes have to do with raising money to help families in the community? Student Council E-Board Administrator Hannah Guard explains.
“Behind each jar is going to be a candy cane that we set up, and as each class brings in more and more money, the candy cane will fill up,” said Guard. “So, when a class raises $300, the entire candy cane will be filled up.”
When the fundraiser draws to a close, the Student Council will gather the money and purchase gift cards to multiple stores where the families can purchase anything they need for the holiday season.
“We’re not exactly sure which stores we will buy gift cards from just yet, because it’s all dependent on how much money we raise.” said Guard.
Student Council has a plan to get the student body to donate their spare change.
“To give people incentive to bring in money, each class needs to bring in at least $100 to participate in the ice cream social we are going to have right before Christmas vacation,” said Madison Barber, the E-board member in charge of public relations.
In addition to the ice cream social, the class that donates the most money has a little something extra to look forward to.
“The prize for the class that raises the most is a hot chocolate stand at the end of their hallway in the morning,” said Guard. Quite an appealing prize as the weather slowly dips into the thirties and below.
This is not the first experience Student Council has had with helping those in need in the community.
“For homecoming, we started something new this year, and if you brought in a canned good, you got a discount on your ticket,” said Guard, “and we ended up donating over 500 cans to St. Vincent de Paul.”
The Candy Cane Fundraiser is only one of the activities Student Council plans on having to spread the holiday joy. This Friday, December 4, the group plans to sing carols at the Sippican Nursing Home, and it then plans to continue spreading the holiday spirit by caroling again on a date that has yet to be determined. After that, there are some exciting surprises lined up for the Old Rochester community.
“Our main goal after Christmas vacation is going to be planning for a second homecoming,” Barber said.
By Sienna Wurl