By Anvita Mohile and Paige Vachris, Staff Reporters
On Sept. 24, Hurricane Helene devastated U.S. coastal states, including Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. In its dollar drive from Oct. 7 to Oct. 11, Peer Mediation asked students to donate to the American Red Cross to aid disaster victims.
Members primarily collected money during homeroom, raising more than $1,500 in total. They also collected donations at other district events, such as the HES Trunk-or-Treat and Conestoga football games.
Senior and president of Peer Mediation Charlie Gawthrop, along with Peer Mediation executives senior Chase Niemeyer and juniors Maggie Barnes and Vaishnavi Sriadibhatla, ran the drive.
“We’re trying to make people realize the impact that they could have by just even donating one dollar,” Gawthrop said.
Junior Ava Joseph, a Peer Mediation executive, was part of the fundraising committee. Joseph said the planning process was quick but successful and that communication and collaboration were major strengths among Peer Mediators.
“I think we were able to unite the team pretty well,” Joseph said. “We had a lot of people volunteer at the football game last week. We have a good amount of volunteers helping out at Hillside (Trunk-or-Treat). Just being able to come together really quickly and our communication was a big part.”
Junior and Peer Mediation executive Vibha Besagi created advertisements and promoted the dollar drive around school. She said that prior to the drive, Peer Mediation members conducted research about the hurricane to decide which charity to donate to, ultimately choosing the Red Cross.
“There were some fundraisers and relief organizations (in articles we read),” Besagi said. “Once we read through them, we decided to go with the Red Cross for our proceeds.”
Peer Mediation members plan on raising money for charity at other events this year, such as Cornucopia, and hope to continue making a difference for those in need.
“We are a group of people who want to help out whenever we can,” Gawthrop said. “That’s really what Peer Mediation is about. Besides just helping out the school, it is helping out the people that need it.”
Anvita Mohile can be reached at [email protected].
Paige Vachris can be reached at [email protected].
