At RM’s Homecoming Dance on October 7, many students proudly wore buttons declaring “Donating is Groovy” in place of the usual boutonniere or corsage. Far from being a random choice, the buttons were worn to signify their donation to RM’s Red Cross Club’s hurricane relief fundraiser. “A year from now, [me and my date] would much rather remember giving money to the hurricane relief than buying the corsage,” senior Thomas Del Vecchio said.

The homecoming fundraiser was just one of many fundraisers that the Red Cross Club had held since the Freshman BBQ on August 31 during the week that Hurricane Harvey made landfall. Their other fundraisers have taken place in school, at Back-to-School night, and at football games. Though they initially focused on raising money for Harvey, with the arrivals of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, their efforts expanded to include all hurricanes.

The Red Cross Club had two goals for their hurricane relief efforts: they wanted to raise money, but more importantly, raise awareness within the school. “It’s really easy to turn off the news and stop paying attention. Just because we stopped caring doesn’t mean everyone else’s lives got to go back to normal,” club president senior Ryla Cantergiani said. “We wanted to remind RM students that people still need help.”

Simply having a presence in the school gives students the opportunity to integrate charitable acts into their everyday lives. Junior Emily Yuan said, “I donated some money when they went around with water jugs…I had a lot of change.”

“I think [students’] attitude and willingness to help speaks to the amazing student body at RM,” club publicist senior Michelle Li said.

The Red Cross Club’s determination has allowed its fundraiser to be successful, since enthusiasm for donating fluctuates depending on the amount of news coverage that the hurricanes have received. This made a donation on September 16 at a Junior Varsity football game particularly heartwarming. One woman, after some hesitation, placed a $20 bill in the donation jug saying she “hadn’t donated until now so this would make up for that.”

But not all adults are not so generous. Many view the Red Cross skeptically after reading or hearing about scandals associated with the corporation. A 2015 investigation by National Public Radio (NPR) revealed that after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, despite the millions of dollars they raised, the Red Cross only built six out of the 130,000 homes it had claimed to provide for victims.

As a result, several parents have expressed reservations about donating to RM’s chapter of the Red Cross. “However, we have had multiple people tell us that even though there were a few questionable characters, there are a lot of people trying to do good, and they support us,” Cantergiani said.

RM may be far away from Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico, but both students and parents have given charitably to the club. “I love seeing that there are people who feel that love in their hearts for people they’ve never met who are going through hard times,” club sponsor and social studies teacher Bethany Stevenson said.

For many students not personally affected by the hurricanes, their distance from the epicenter of disaster makes donating the best—and only—way to help. “I feel that I’ve been really fortunate in life, and want to do what I can to pay it forward,” Cantergiani said.

Featured photo courtesy of Ryla Cantergiani