Over 38 million Americans live in poverty. At Highlands High School, students have transformed that statistic into action by organizing events in honor of Poverty Awareness Month, making a tangible impact in Fort Thomas.
January is National Poverty in America Awareness Month. Officially recognized by Congress in 2009, when poverty rates in the U.S. were rising rapidly. In response to this pressing issue, Highlands High School has dedicated itself to organizing various charity events aimed at helping those in need.
“It’s heartwarming when families come here to pick up our prepared food boxes, and you can truly see the relief in their faces because they never know what they’re going to get,” one of the event organizers Elise Carter said.
One of the recent initiatives organized by the school was the Holiday Feast Box Drive, where students, with the help of donations, created boxes full of food to distribute to families who couldn’t afford a Christmas dinner.
“The Holiday Feast Box Drive started with a leadership day at the University of Cincinnati,” Carter said. “We learned that while many charities offer food for Thanksgiving, there was nothing similar for Christmas. Initially, we thought about organizing something in our school cafeteria, but due to time constraints, we decided to launch the Feast Box, providing families with all the essentials for a Christmas dinner.”
This year, Highlands High School raised $3,300, which allowed them to provide 43 families with Christmas dinners, at approximately $63 per food package.
The Holiday Feast Box Drive was just one of several charity events recently organized. Another notable initiative was the annual Hoops for Hunger basketball game.
“Hoops for Hunger raised about $400 in donations and $250 in court sponsorships, bringing in just over $600 for the event,” a teacher involved in the fundraiser, Kevin Listerman said. “We’ve been doing this for about 10 years, and in total, we’ve raised more than $10,000.”
Highlands High School has found different ways to help impoverished people by working with various charities.
“We recognized that we can use basketball as a platform to do things beyond the game. Partnering with Hosea House and other charities has been a great thing,” Listerman said.
Both the boys’ and girls’ teams participated in Hoops for Hunger, a charity funded by the Hosea House, a charity foundation in Fort Thomas. The coaches and teams were ecstatic about helping out their peers in need.
“It’s always a good feeling when we do hoops for hunger and to be able to give back to our community, especially the ones that need it the most,” girls’ basketball coach and teacher Jaime Richey said.
It is a common tradition for Highlands staff to get involved with many different charities.
“We participate in a lot of different charities, so much so that we had to slow the amount of charities we were participating in because we had so many different ones inter-lapping,” assistant principal Jennifer Nash said.
Among the many initiatives Highlands supports, holiday-related efforts stand out as one of the more prevalent causes supported. It’s not only the faculty and board that get involved in these charities but also the students.
“The juniors do a toy drive every Christmas for parents who may not be able to afford gifts for their kids at the time, and the staff does a kind of Thanksgiving box where everyone has the ability to donate for families during Thanksgiving,” Nash said.
In addition to their holiday efforts, Highlands also participates in programs that honor veterans and their service. Many veterans haven’t been able to go to see memorials of fallen comrades.
“NHS does work with the honor flights where veterans who haven’t gone to DC to see the memorials get flown out, and they have students to help guide and help them through their traveling process,” said Nash.
