Recently, two new philanthropic clubs have been added to the list of the 52 existing clubs at Aragon.
The new “No Kid Hungry Club,” advised by English teacher James Daniel, is part of a family of clubs and organizations across the United States that aims to end hunger in America by 2015.
According to the website of the organization, one in five students in America are hungry. “This club focuses on kids who can’t afford food. It might not be apparent here, but it happens in other places, and this club just wants to raise awareness about childhood hunger,” says club president and junior Celene Bolanos.
Freshman club member Briana Reynolds says, “I think we can raise enough money by 2015. I’ve never heard of people in San Mateo that are hungry, but you hear it on the news and you know it happens.”
Regarding the immediate action taken by the club, Bolanos adds, “Sept. 6 was National ‘Go Orange’ day. Orange is actually the color of hunger awareness. I think it’s really bright and it’s an optimistic color.”
The club wants to have more unofficial ‘Go Orange’ days at least every other month. Currently, the club members are planning a pledge party where they sign a pledge to commit to ending hunger by 2015. Looking toward the future, more fundraisers and events are in the works. “We want to sell orange sunglasses and donate the profits,” says Bolanos, “since we can get them at a discount.”
In addition to the No Kid Hungry Club, People for Animal Welfare (PAW), advised by history teacher Jennifer Johnson, was restarted. Freshman Yumena Kawasaki, the club secretary and treasurer, says, “We heard there was an animal club, and we tried to join, but we got the news that it was no longer active, so we started it up again.”
Club vice president, freshman Meghan Wong says, “[The purpose of the club is] to assist local humane societies in their fight against animal cruelty.”
Regarding club activities, freshman club president Victoria Hoznek adds, “[We can donate] animal food, dog toys, cat toys, used towels. We kind of want to do volunteering as a club and ask them for group volunteering opportunities, because they can never get enough volunteers and it would be more fun and useful.”
The club hopes to fundraise and raise awareness about animal cruelty at school. Says Kawasaki, “We want to do bake sales and blanket drives.” Hoznek agrees. “We want to attend the next food fair, and we want the food we sell to reflect what we do in the club. Why have a regular cookie when you can have one shaped like a paw print?”
Additionally, PAW plans to enlist the help of local restaurants to raise awareness and money for their cause. “At Panda Express, they can give you 20 percent towards your cause, and it’s really yummy, so we can do that,” says Hoznek.
For their first project, however, PAW plans to adopt a wild animal with the money they earn from fundraisers. Hoznek says, “You send them money and they give you updates and pictures. A lot of animals you can adopt are endangered animals because they want to prevent them from going extinct.”
Many clubs at Aragon, like PAW, have existed previously under the management of past classes. According to leadership adviser Catherine Williamson, “A club would become inactive when the officers graduate and people stop coming to the clubs. A big thing is that if underclassmen can’t take over, like the Gentlemen’s Club last year, which had a lot of seniors.”
Williamson adds, “The students have to generate the interest. The first thing is, make sure you have an adviser and get ten signatures of people who want to reactivate it. The administration does the initial approval and the only time we’ve ever hesitated on it is if there’s a similar club.”
For example, No Kid Hungry is similar to the older existing club End World Hunger. However, the scopes of their causes are different: No Kid Hungry focuses on impoverished students in America, while End World Hunger focuses on world hunger.
“If it has a slight difference, then we’ll take it. When you’re at a high school, they probably get similar ideas from books and online,” says Williamson.
