Fundraisers less successful than during previous years

Almost every student at AHS attended the charity basketball game on Friday, during which it was announced that the fundraisers carried out this year have been significantly less successful than in previous years.

At the basketball game, three $1000 donations were given to three different charities in the names of Aurora students: Team Red White and Blue, Youth Challenge, and Girls with Sole. Each of these charities has a focus on helping the community through sports and social opportunities, and they were selected by members of NHS.

Aurora for Others organizer Jennifer Simmerman explained, “the committee picked all 4 charities this year because they were meaningful to them. [NHS Members] Marissa Henderson, Nate Branstein, Jeremy Thorn, and Megan Mihalik were on the committee that chose these groups.”

This funding, though impressive, pales in comparison to the funds raised in previous years. “Last year we raised over $8,000. This year we barely raised over 3,” lamented Simmerman. “This year’s fundraising was disappointing, but I’m sure we will get more money next year.”

She listed the cause of such low income as the fact that “fundraising was split between other school clubs and classes.” In addition to the fundraisers held through NHS and Aurora for Others, students’ money-giving opportunities were also split between canned food and pet supply drives held by the Aurora Service Learning classes.

Of the roughly $3,000 profit, how much was earned by each activity? Simmerman explained, “the Coin Wars earned about $2,500 this year. Basketball earned about $500 and pieing the teachers earned around $200.”

The winners of the Coin Wars- as this was a fierce competition between classes- were the Seniors. They were followed closely by the Juniors; both had positive monetary totals and earned a substantial amount of money to support the chosen charities. These were followed by the Sophomores and Freshmen, respectively, who both had negative totals.

The charity basketball game, disappointingly, was won by the teachers- and their lead was definitely not a small one over the students. Maybe- hopefully- the results of next year’s game, as well its fundraising, will be much more positive.