As the devastating wildfires have deeply affected Southern California and Los Angeles (L.A.), Arcadia High School (AHS) clubs and other organizations–– AHS’ Red Cross, AHS’ Key Club, Kids in Conflict, and IgniteHER––organized a fire relief donation drive from Jan. 13 to 31 to provide support to those in our community who are affected by the wildfires.
The ultimate goal of the drive was to allow the AHS community to make substantial contributions by donating clothing, hygiene products, canned food, and other necessities people may have lost through the fire to relief efforts and help as many people who have been affected by the fires as possible.
“With the coordinated collaboration of the clubs IgniteHER, Kids in Conflict, Red Cross, and Key Club, we have the mission of bringing support and necessities to those impacted by the Eaton Fire. Our primary objective is to provide immediate assistance with essentials to replace lost belongings,” said sophomore Carolina Santo, secretary of IgniteHER.
To organize this drive, junior Camelia Tang, president of IgniteHER, took the initiative to reach out to clubs in Arcadia and ask for their participation in the drive. The clubs came together and agreed to send their donations to the L.A. Mission Homeless Shelter and the Santa Anita YMCA. After picking the duration of the drive, they created graphics to post on social media in order to spread awareness about the drive and encourage AHS students to donate. Donations can be dropped off at C-107 and G-108 at AHS.
“We wanted to organize this event to give the people at AHS a chance to do something good and serve their community. It gives students an easy way to help out without going out of their way to drive somewhere as it is being hosted in the library, and you can donate anything ranging from tools to hygiene products to canned food to clothing,” said junior Tatiana Sarkis, president of Kids in Conflict.
“The Arcadia Red Cross Club believes this drive is a fundamental effort from the AHS community to help the victims of the fires while in line with the American Red Cross’ disaster relief line of service and fundamental principle of humanity,” said senior Rayhan Mahamed, president of Red Cross Club.
Since the drive, there have been many volunteers who donated.
“California has been my home for around 10 years, and to see the wildfires devastate the people here made me feel like I had to do something. It is the duty of the community to lift each other up when situations pull us down,” said sophomore Arnav Mohanty.
“I chose to donate because I wanted to contribute anyway I could, especially since I personally know a lot of people who were affected by the fire,” said Sarkis.
Currently, donations have been sent to provide for those affected by the Eaton fire. As more items are donated to this drive, there will be more to provide for those affected by the fires.
