During the school’s “Money Madness” fundraiser, the school donated to The Children’s Advocacy Center. At the CAC children are able to speak alone with trained interviewers about abuse they may have had in their homes. If a child makes an outcry of abuse during the interview, the child and their non-offending family members are invited to enter free counseling and therapy programs to bring healing to the family.
Each year Superintendent Dr. Kevin Rogers’ student advisory picks a project to hold during the school year. Last year, they chose the painted parking spots for seniors and another year they picked Mr. Marcus. This year, however, they wanted to give back to the community by holding a campaign that they called “Money Madness.”
According to student council adviser Gina Karbs, each high school got to pick their own charity to raise money for. Both Hebron and Marcus decided to do the Children Advocacy Center, while Flower Mound, Lewisville and the Colony helped PediPlace, which gives healthcare to uninsured patients. Karbs said that the principal Gary Shafferman chose to raise money for the CAC.
“I think it means more to people when they’re trying to raise funds for something they can see,” Shafferman said.
Shafferman said that the CAC is given money to fund certain events but they don’t have the extra money to make the place look nicer or more comfortable for children. The center will be using the money the school raised to add on a new building to their Lewisville office. Soon, more members of Denton County community will be able to seek help.
Overall, the whole feeder system raised approximately $9200 while Marcus individually raised about $4000. According to senior class president and student council representative Landon Plunkett, the CAC was glad that the school held the fundraiser.
“They were really excited that our project highlighted what the CAC does for the community,” Plunkett said.
The planning for the fundraiser, according to Karbs, took about a month. The school’s three advisory representatives, Plunkett, senior Parker Mitchell and junior Havin Bradley went and met with the principals on each campus to talk to them and make sure that they were willing to participate.
The “Money Madness” campaign lasted two weeks in February and the student advisery council designated a project for each week. One week of the campaign the student council sat in the cafeteria and sold raffle tickets for lunch on the roof with Shafferman.
On April 29, each principal from Marcus’ feeder schools will eat lunch during school on the roof of Marcus with the winner of every school’s individual raffle. The students will be speaking with the principal of their school while eating pizza, courtesy of the student council.
The other week was the duct taping. This idea was submitted by Jennifer Mattingly, principal of McAuliffe, who was also duct taped to the wall. While Shafferman said that he didn’t really enjoy being up on the wall for two and a half hours he had a fear that he would have to use the bathroom, it was worth it to him.
“It’s always good for kids to see that you’re willing to do something for a good cause, so I thought that was a great idea,” Shafferman said.
