By: JULIA SUDOL
This Club Saves Lives, a philanthropic club at Carmel High School, hosted Family House’s second toiletry drive during the two weeks before October break, though its success drastically decreased compared to last year’s.
A big donation box was left in three freshman teachers’ classrooms, encouraging students to drop off any toiletries from travel size shampoo and conditioner to toothbrushes and toothpastes. After the two weeks, only 300 items were collected, significantly less than the 3,000 collected the previous year.
Health teacher and club advisor Leigh Cambra speculates that these results are due to the lack of excitement predominantly fueled by 2017 CHS grad Caroline Mierzwa, an intern at Family House.
“Last year, it was new and different,” Cambra says. “People had somebody on campus that was super passionate about it.”
Furthermore, natural disasters such as the hurricanes in Texas and Florida and fires in California distracted This Club Saves Lives members by having them put more energy into supporting victims affected by these disasters and not enough into publicizing and encouraging the toiletry drive.
Unlike last year, when a van of students drove up to San Francisco to personally deliver the donations, Cambra plans on mailing them.
