Seniors Bridget Loucks and Tim Heller run the Simon McCormack Foundation. The charity helps raise money for the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association, which deals with the research, treatment and prevention of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, a disease that thickens the myocardium, a heart muscle. This thickening makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood, which can cause cardiac arrest.
The foundation is not run through student council, as some have thought, though the pair did raise $1,300 by selling t-shirts (designed by Bridget) outside the cafeteria in September and October.
“This really turned out to be a lot bigger than I had anticipated, and I thank everyone who helped for their effort- and everyone who bought a T-shirt,” Heller said.
The pair started the foundation in honor of Simon McCormack a good friend of Heller and Loucks. The pair doesn’t have any more fundraisers planned yet. Create a Change is a charity run by Kathleen Cohen, a senior at Barrington High School. Melissa Ryder, a senior at LHS is on the board of the charity. Create a Change picks two charities a year to focus on and then runs events to raise money for the causes.
The charity’s two current beneficiaries are JDRF and Smile Train. JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) helps juveniles with diabetes by trying to find a cure. Smile Train helps fix cleft palates of children around the world.
All the money that Create a Change makes goes directly to the cause. Cohen had experience volunteering for non- profit charities where a lot of the money raised went to overhead costs, so she decided Create a Change would be different.
“I wanted more control over where the money went, ensuring that the money I raised would go directly to the cause,” Cohen said.
One fundraiser that Create a Change has had was when containers were put in a school and whichever class raised the most amount of money got a pizza party. They also have had a ‘Bowling with the Bears’ fundraiser, were they went to Pinstrips Bowling Alley in Barrington and bowled with the 1985 Bears, the money came from the $40 tickets you needed to get into the event. They hope to have a charity concert in the near future.
Cats Against Cancer is run by Mandy Vogg, Alex Kouzoukas and Colleen Althoff, seniors as LHS. They started the charity last year and work closely with the American Cancer Society (ACS), of which it is technically a part.
“Our goal is to raise awareness about cancer research and to get more people involved with the fight against cancer,” Vogg said.
CAC has had many successful fundraisers. They had The Great American Smoke-out to encourage people to stop smoking. At the even, they sold hair- extensions: blue for lung cancer and pink for breast cancer. They also offered turkey bowling: bowling in the cafeteria that used frozen turkeys instead of traditional bowling balls.
The charity’s next idea is to make holiday cards for cancer patients. They meet every Tuesday after school and welcome new members. They also accept donations and plan major events every fall, winter and spring.
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