By Caroline Ingold
managing news

Raising countless amounts of money for various causes and clubs throughout DHS and the community, Student Union is one organization with an undeniably large presence at the school. With the Cameron Lamont fundraiser underway and Kids Against Hunger just wrapping up, members have been busy with bake sales, pop can drives and other fundraising opportunities.

“Typically we try not to overlap [fundraisers] but right now we have two going,” senior Shelby Brubaker said. 

Brubaker is the chair of the Cameron Lamont fundraiser and is also a sports representative for Student Union.

Although every fundraiser is different, Student Union tends to organize each in the same way. For every fundraiser, members are split into groups and are then assigned a monetary goal or fundraising assignment.  For the Cameron Lamont fundraiser, five groups were created of four to five students each, with a goal or raising $200. Two groups worked on the bake sale, a group went to businesses asking for donations, one organized putting cups in the classrooms for donations and sending teachers emails about the fundraisers. A final group spearheaded the pop can drive.

The groups were motivated to get donations by the Lamont’s tough financial situation. Cameron Lamont, a high school senior from Hemlock, recently passed away after being diagnosed with stage four soft-tissue cancer. His family is currently struggling to pay off costly medical treatments and visits to Ann Arbor hospital, which at one point were costing them $200 per week.  In addition, the rest of the Lamont family suffers from health issues ranging from thyroid cancer to kidney problems to Asperger’s syndrome.  The Lamonts were recently forced to file for bankruptcy due to the financial strain this has put on them.  

The goal for the entire fundraiser was set at anything over $1200. According to Brubaker, Student Union almost always sets a goal for the individual fundraisers, but not for the total amount raised at the end of the year.  

“We’re not apt to set a goal for the year, it’s more of what our goal is for each individual fundraiser,” she said. “That depends what the organization is that we’re raising money for and how much they need.”

Usually, fundraising consists of Student Union members coming to third hour classes collecting donations or selling baked goods.

“We really try to push everyone [to donate],” Brubaker said. “We tend to nag everyone until we meet our goal and usually we do.”

Although they push students to donate whatever they can, Student Union members occasionally have special donation obligations.

“For Kids Against Hunger, we had to either sell tickets or donate the $20,” Brubaker said. “But for this fundraiser, there isn’t a requirement. It’s just that you do your job and you work to get money more so than donating.”

Despite this, many Student Union members still choose to donate to the cause they are fundraising for.

“I know that a lot of us have donated or bought baked goods to go towards the funds,” Brubaker said.

Student Union is in charge of countless fundraisers throughout the year, but the two biggest are the magazine drive and Kids Against Hunger. Because money raised during the magazine drive goes back to school clubs, Student Union stresses participation through assemblies and incentives for students to sell magazines.

“You really want a lot of money because that’s just going to help the school in the long run,” Brubaker said.

Fundraisers are usually initiated after students ask the Student Union for help fundraising for a specific organization or person. 

“The Cameron Lamont fundraiser happened because a student was close with his family and saw that they really needed help,” Brubaker said.

Although students are the driving force of most fundraisers, occasionally Student Union members will learn about specific needs of the community through outlets like the news.

“The sweater drive that Katie Clarke and I chaired, we saw a newspaper article and that’s the reason we did that,” Brubaker said. “So we really can get ideas anywhere, mostly from the students though.”