Key Club raised $586 to donate to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) during the month of October. Triple the amount they raised last year, according to the organization’s sponsor, Jayme Thomas.

While the organization had no specific goal in mind, they did manage to collect $313 from individual club members and $273 from their Tetanus Awareness Project in which they “infected” classrooms with various “diseases.” Students had to pay $10 to have their classrooms “cured.”

“It was actually kinda taken from something I used to do at my other school,” Thomas said, explaining the conception behind the idea.

Thomas’ idea for the fundraiser stemmed from a similar fundraiser hosted by the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) group one year in which they decorated classrooms with pink flamingos for the purpose of raising money for Cystic Fibrosis.

“Yes, it is really important,” Daisy Hernandez, senior key club president said, explaining the importance behind the fundraiser. “I’ve never really had an encounter with somebody who has Tetanus, but it affects mothers and it affects their children who they want to keep alive. So, the fact that this brings new lives to people that aren’t really living in first world countries like we are and don’t have the options to get medical treatment really touches my heart.

Ruben Diaz Jr.

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