As wildfires continue to burn in Los Angeles, displacing tens of thousands of residents, South Bay high school students are mobilizing to provide relief. From assembling care packages to organizing donation drives, students and staff are finding creative ways to contribute to recovery efforts hundreds of miles away. The event raised funds for the Altadena Teen Girls and Teen Boys organizations, which operate free pop-up boutiques where kids and teenagers affected by the fires can find items like clothing, shoes, toys, and accessories at no cost.
Student volunteers from Leland sold discounted school apparel, accepted cash donations, and set up stations for attendees to make cards and LAStrong bracelets.
Day service event to assist those affected. Over students and adult volunteers participated, assembling more than emergency kits for local nonprofits. Saratoga High School faced an obstacle. As a public school, it cannot directly donate money to groups outside its jurisdiction due to state guidelines on fundraising. However, creating care packages does not violate these guidelines, as the donations are in the form of goods rather than money. By partnering with local nonprofits, Saratoga ensured that these tangible donations could reach those in need in disaster-impacted areas like Los Angeles.
Leland faced the same hurdle, which is why students only accepted cash for the apparel. In some schools, students have set up donation drives rather than one-off fundraising events. Valentina Contreras, a freshman at Presentation High School, organized a two-week donation drive for clothes, hygiene products, and non-perishable foods as well as cash donations.
The drive gathered about N masks, bottles of water, and sanitary wipe packets. Students at other Bay Area schools also hope to contribute. Larger efforts are taking place as well, with Fremont Union High School District arranging a fundraiser that started on Jan. These quickly organized fundraising efforts have been supported by an aggressive promotional push, with students using social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook to spread the word.
