Wapakoneta High School student Mackenzie Courter and her mom Julie, who teaches at WHS, saw something on the news one night that gave them an idea.
To honor is wife, who passed away from cancer, a man in Kentucky was putting together items and giving them away to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. He called them chemo bags. This made the Courters want to do something similar for locals receiving chemo.
They came up with the idea of giving out bravery bags. These will include socks, hand sanitizer, hard candies, puzzle books, sunglasses, pens and pencils, a knit hat and a bandana. This project is being facilitated by the student senate, of which Mackenzie is a member, and beginning at Friday night's football game, donations for these bags will begin to be collected.
“I came up with the idea to call them bravery bags, and I wanted to start out by giving them to St. Rita's Cancer Center, so it would be local people, but eventually we want to expand,” Mackenzie said.
At halftime during the game Friday night, students will begin asking for donations. All next week, fundraisers will be held at the high school. Raffled off next week will be a pizza donated by the principals that students can enjoy with friends, two parking spots close to the building for winter and a week's worth of free ice cream at lunch, donated by a teacher.
“We're also going to do a competition in the homerooms,” Mackenzie said. “Every homeroom that raises $50 or more gets an ice cream sandwich party.”
The ice cream is being donated by student senate. Donations will also be accepted by the public through Oct. 27. Checks can be either mailed dropped off at the high school located at 1 W. Redskin Trail. They can be made out to Wapakoneta High School. They should read Attention Student Senate.
See the full story in the Wednesday, Oct. 12 edition of the Wapakoneta Daily News.