With the holidays happening all around, the season for giving is also abundant. Gift giving and holiday cheer are celebrated and cherished. This generous holiday attitude was displayed nowhere more than in the $16,000 donation given to the Red Cross club last week.

“We were real excited about it, just thrilled really. We have a lot of ideas but nothing specific in mind yet of what were going to do with it,” Coppell High School nurse Beth Dorn said. “The full amount of the money is not going to go for our (Coppell High School) Red Cross club, we will have a certain amount of money allotted for our club that we can do a special project with but the bulk of it will go just to the Red Cross in general.”

The club joins together with other Red Cross high school clubs in the area to sponsor small projects throughout the year, proving there is power in numbers.

“We do a lot of projects to help the Red Cross in general. Our latest project, Vaccinate a Village, helped give vaccinations to children in poorer countries, helping them prevent measles and other diseases,” Dorn said.

The money was donated by a local law firm, most of it going to the Red Cross organization but the money left will go to the club to help sponsor a new project next semester.

““It was Sydney Strough, a mom of one of the members in our club. She works at a consultant firm and they won a cast and the money they received they donated it to the Red Cross club, we received $16,000 and we have several projects we can donate it to so we are giving it to some of the villages we sponsored with vaccinate a village and then next semester we will be raising money for girls in Cambodia to keep them in school. The rest of the money will be going to disaster relief.” Said Red Cross president Anafer Barrera

The Red Cross club, Coppell High School chapter, is led by school nurse Beth Dorn. They meet weekly to discuss world issues and do humanitarian help around the area. You can join by contacting Beth Dorn or Anafer Barrera bdorn@coppellisd.com .

Come holiday season, Coppell High School finds itself flooded with charities of all kinds, usually the same charities other high schools in the region are contributing to. This year, Lil Rascals club brought a new charity to the school, called Phillip’s Wish, a local organization founded by a 7-year-old boy based out of Keller that is dedicated to providing warmth to the homeless.

Lil Rascals, a club started last year at the high school that revolves around helping local underprivileged children, decided to introduce Phillip’s wish to CHS as a clothing drive, collecting blankets, coats, scarves, gloves and the like.

Coppell graduates collect blankets at Tom Thumb for Phillip's Wish in the honor of their late friend, Corinne Peters. Photo by Shannon Conrad

The foundation strives to collect funds and used or new clothing to keep the homeless warm during the holidays and holds an event each year that is dedicated to someone, this year’s being dedicated to Coppell’s late Corinne Peters, a 2010 graduate.

“That’s why I brought Phillip’s Wish to Coppell,” said senior Shannon Conrad, founder of Lil Rascals. “I felt that she needed to be remembered by Coppell and the foundation’s dedication to her was not only a way to involve Lil Rascals club but to also involve CHS students to remember her and make a difference.”

The event took place last Saturday, Dec. 11 in the parking lot of Tom Thumb in Keller, featuring guest speakers who spoke of their memories of Peters.

Conrad, who had known Peters for several years, attended the event, but left the speeches up to one of Peters’ best friends, 2010 CHS graduate Ashley Johnson, who had been involved in Lil Rascal’s club and Austin Street Homeless Shelter, but had never heard of Phillip’s Wish.

“Being away at school helps take your mind off things, but returning home makes moving on a lot harder,” Johnson said. “The good thing about the speech I will be giving is that it will be focusing on the funny and light hearted memories we have of Corinne, rather than the depressing topic that made her a headline for so long.”

Though Lil Rascals is not planning on continuing with Phillip’s Wish as they did this year, Coppell High School’s experience with the foundation thus far is helping many cope with Peter’s death through working toward a good cause.

“Even though I didn’t know Corinne as well as Shannon did, I still appreciate being able to participate in the drive,” said senior Emily Fowler, who is vice president of Lil Rascals. “It was cool to see how the event had a dual purpose for the members of Lil Rascals and other people, even graduates, from Coppell.”

CHS students had the opportunity to get involved in the event to help honor Peters’ memory, whether they knew her personally or not. Over 40,000 blankets were collected by the foundation this year in Peters’ name.

The CHS drive ended on Friday, but students and teachers can still bring in gently used winter clothing to sponsor Physics teacher and coach Clint Rushing’s room in B106 until the end of the week.

Though the competetive clothing and blanket drive put on by Lil Rascals for the Phillip’s Wish foundation ended last Friday (congratulations to room E101 on collecting the most and earning a baked goods party), Lil Rascals is still accepting donations.

Drop off new or gently used blankets, coats, sweaters, gloves, scarfs, jackets and the like to Lil Rascal’s sponsor Coach and Physics teacher Clint Rushing’s room, B102, anytime throughout the week. So far, the foundation has collected over 40,000 blankets.

All that is collected will go to benefit the homeless of Dallas in honor of the late Corinne Peters, Coppell graduate of 2010, to whom the Phillip’s Wish event was dedicated this year.

For more information on the foundation and the 7-year-old boy who started it, visit phillipswish.com. Or, check the Facebook event started by club President and founder senior Shannon Conrad.

This year many new clubs have been birthed, among them being a club called PAWS -Pets Are Worth Saving- created by junior Monse Gonzales.

You may have seen the posters in the halls -this club is all about helping animals and pets. Members plan to hold fundraisers throughout the year to raise money to help support dogs in shelters and other animal organization across the Metroplex.

PAWS will be holding its second meeting this Thursday, Nov. 4, in sponsor Mr. Scott’s room, B102 after school to discuss officer positions and upcoming events.

This club accepts no dues but does accept donations that will go straight to other animal organizations.

All Poets on Shirts T-shirts are now in! After a two-week wait the red American Apparel v-necks (If I shall stop one heart from breaking… I shall not live in vain –Emily Dickenson) have finally arrived. The beige and black T-shirts have been on campus at all lunches since the week before spring break for sale and for pick-up. Students and faculty that have purchased the red shirt (or any of the three shirts) can pick up their size at any lunch today until at least the end of the week.

The T-shirts were designed in collaboration of various students in JWAC to create the Poets of Shirts campaign. All three shirts are still on sale, $15 each, or three shirts for $30. All funds will go towards funding Chile earthquake relief.

“We’ve raised over $600 so far,” said JWAC Vice President Daphne Chen. “We’re really excited because not only is everyone getting excited about the cause, but they are getting something cool in return.”

The new and super-soft red American Apparel T-shirts are going fast, so grab one at lunch today. However, JWAC members are planning on having to order more shirts, which will take one week for arrival.

Seniors Duncan Dominguez and Kelly Winkle model the new JWAC shirts. Photo by Katie Quill

People around the world face suffering each day. Sometimes it takes a natural disaster to put the harsh realities of the lives of some into perspective for us. While the earthquake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12 dispersed Haitian families, the disaster united foreign peoples under a common effort for relief aid. Do your part to help relieve Haitian families in need, whether it be through prayer, a tax-deductible monetary donation or enjoying the delicious home-baked desserts the Red Cross club was selling after school this week.

While on-line:
Donate any amount of money to World Vision, a foundation with 30 years of experience in Haiti, to help provide food, medicine and family survival kits including everything from clean water, blankets and tents to cooking supplies.

Or, to make sure your donation goes toward a specific relief need:
-PUR water packets-a $20 donation will provide 100 days of water for a Haitian family in need
-Food, health care and agricultural support
-emergency delivery of goods -your donation will help rush collapsible water containers, hygiene kits, cooking sets, blankets and tarpaulins for temporary shelter
-or, a monthly gift that will go towards helping affected children in Haiti by providing long-term relief, blankets, food and shelter for orphans and other children

Give a tax-deductable donation to Samaritan’s Purse Project.

While at the store:
Grab:

and a one gallon plastic bag to create a health kit for Haiti. All the above items, sealed in the plastic bag, can be returned to the nurse’s office at CHS for UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief).

At school:
Bring your health kit for Haiti, for one. Secondly, don’t miss out on CHS’s Heritage Day tonight, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. Admission costs one dollar -a donation that will help fund Haiti’s situation. Festivies will include cultural dances, food, comedy and sale of JWAC club’s shirts for Haiti. These beautifully designed T-shirts will be for sale one for $15 or all three shirts for $35.

More ways to help Haiti.

For updates on the situation in Haiti.

Learn more about the country Haiti.

Further, check facebook for groups you can join that will automatically donate with each click.

The City of Coppell is again hosting the Make a Child Smile program that offers some extra help to Coppell families during the holidays.

For its twentieth year, Make a Child Smile allows members of the community to help their neighbors by donating gifts for Coppell children. Participants choose an ornament from the tree at Town Hall which will name a few gifts of the child’s wish list. Those interested in participating should visit the City Secretary’s Department, at Town Center 225 Parkway Blvd., and pick a paper ornament off the holiday tree. Participants who have previously picked up an ornament should return their wrapped gift of clothing and/or a toy for the child today, Friday, Dec. 11.

Over 400 children are in need this holiday season, and still 100 ornaments remain. Although the official deadline for the project is today, citizens are encouraged to pick up an ornament today and will be given an extended deadline for the return of gifts to next Friday, Dec. 18.

Gifts need to be returned to the City Secretary’s Department wrapped and with the ornament securely attached by either this Friday, Dec. 11, or –for those picking up an ornament today- Dec. 18.

For more information, click here or call Allana Lamberth at 972-304-3669.