Every year in March, Student Leadership plans a Charity Week with different events to raise money for a charity of their choice. This year, Charity Week will take place the week of March 16 through March 20, and the events are to raise money for the Southwest Detroit Immigrant and Refugee Center. When asked why they picked this charity, Lyla Anantharam answered, “We felt like this charity is very prominent in our world right now, and it is an issue that we all care about as a class.”
Students can participate in spirit week all week for class points. On Monday, it is Nike techs vs. quarter zips, on Tuesday it is wear green for St. Patrick’s Day, on Wednesday it is Wacky Wednesday, on Thursday it is meme day, and on Friday it is class colors, white for freshmen, green for sophomores, red for juniors, and blue for seniors.
To start the week off, Student Leadership will distribute flyers to students as they arrive at school on Monday morning. They are also going to make an announcement informing everyone what Charity Week is, which charity they chose, and why they picked this charity. At lunch in the SCAC, there will be dirty sodas for sale. Dirty sodas are a mix of fountain sodas with flavor syrups, creamer, and sometimes fresh lime. Students will be able to pick their soda and whatever flavors and customizations they want in it. Monday night, there is a fundraiser dinner at Crispelli’s. “All you have to do is go to Crispelli’s for dinner and buy food, and a portion of what you pay for your dinner goes to us to donate,” Grace Franco explained.
Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day! To celebrate and raise money, there will be green bagels for sale on Tuesday morning in the SCAC. Another big event on Tuesday is the thrift store. The thrift store will be held from 7:45 to 4:30 in the LMC. There will be used clothes, shoes, accessories, books, and more items for sale. Donations could come from anyone, and all donations had to be in by March 11 to allow Student Leadership time to clean and approve the items. “All clothes will be between one and ten dollars, so it is affordable for students,” Ellie Anspach explained. “It’s going to be an all-day event, including before school, and an hour after school, so there is more time for people to come,” she added. Teachers can sign up to take their classes there during the day, and there will also be snacks for sale.
On Wednesday, during fourth hour, there will be a chicken nugget eating competition in the east gym. Each grade will compete in a team of four people, and they get 50 chicken nuggets to eat, but they have to bring their own sauces. It costs ten dollars to compete and one dollar at the door to watch. There will be raffle tickets for sale, and any viewer can buy a raffle ticket to put in the bucket of which grade they think is going to win. Once there is a winner, a raffle ticket is picked out of that grade’s bucket. Both the chicken nugget winners and the raffle ticket winner get McDonald’s giftcards.
Powerbuff is on Wednesday night from 6:30 to 8:30 in the west gym. It is a boys’ volleyball game, where the juniors are against the seniors. Franco explained, “Participants sign up and get a t-shirt with whatever name they want on it, and play a volleyball game against each other. Anyone can come watch for five dollars.” She also added that there will be a 50/50 raffle, where anyone can buy tickets, and whoever wins gets half the raffle money.
Thursday during lunch, there is an Euchre tournament in the art room. It is five dollars per person, or ten dollars per team. There will also be pizza for sale. Sadie Dagenais said, “We’re going to have a group of students come together and play Euchre, and all the money is going to the charity.”
On Friday, March 20, Student Leadership will wrap up Charity Week by holding a pep assembly in the west gym. It will start at 2:40 and end at 3:30. There will be various games for students to participate in, including tug of war and musical chairs. Morgan Hines said, “It is an event to gather the Berkley community and show some school spirit before we head into spring break.”
While Charity Week features many enjoyable events and activities, its purpose remains to support those in need. Anspach said that she is looking forward to giving the money to the charity. “It is a very important topic in the world right now that we need to support, so being able to take all the profits and give that to them is really good,” she explained. Charity Week, being a yearly tradition, makes it easier for the Berkley community to give donations and support to the groups that need it by choosing a different charity every year. Hines said, “We are continuously doing these events, which is just like extending a helping hand to these organizations that do so much to support the Michigan community.”
