Club Commissioner Cecilia Hosti organized a fundraising event for all clubs in the school on Nov. 13. Each club set up a stand selling something that affiliated with their club and what they do.
To buy these items, you would use tickets that you bought at the front desk. Each ticket cost a dollar and the clubs could choose how much they wanted to sell their item for. However, items weren’t the only things being sold. There was a balloon pop game, made by the newcomer’s club and a cake walk courtesy of the library club.
Hosti highlighted that the process of creating the event was rushed, but she appreciated the commitment of all the clubs in the event.
“In the last week we’ve been scrambling,” Hosti said, “But we got all the clubs, they told me what they were doing and all the clubs set up for themselves which was really nice.”
Leadership teacher and activities director Natalie Gardner enjoyed this event because it helps all the clubs fundraise for their own while also getting the clubs together like the club fair earlier in the year.
“We had a lot of clubs showing up and showing interest in fundraising, and it’s hard to fundraise separately, so we thought of this as an idea to get them all together,” Gardner said.
Unlike the club fair, this event was invited to the community. Families from schools that feed into McDaniel were invited to come as well.
“We really wanted to invite the community in too, so we sent invitations to the feeder schools to bring families and young people in and I’m seeing a little bit of that,” Gardener said.
Senior Frida Teski is the co-president of the garden club. Teski has seen the need to fundraise become more important in her club, so the Harvest Festival was a great opportunity.
“We haven’t had any fundraising at all but this year. We’re trying to prioritize it because we were hearing from our members that they wanted field trips and snacks and stuff like that,” Teski said.
Junior Matilda Foster is a member of the Student Health Action Council. Foster also stated that fundraising is a big part of her club, and the event helped them raise some money.
“It’s a good event, I think we should do it again,” Foster said. “Cecilia’s done a lot, and I think she’s really great.”
Senior Jorge Bautista is a member of the newcomer club, which is a new club here at the school. Bautista recognized the success of the food that they sold at the event.
“Our flan is pretty much sold out. We only have the ones that are left on the table,” Bautista said.
According to Gardner, all 18 clubs that participated in the event made money. Moreover, four of them made over 100 dollars. Overall, the Harvest Festival brought in almost 500 dollars.
After the success of the Harvest Festival, Hosti wanted to continue this tradition by hosting more club fundraisers in the near future.
“I want to do a spring festival. I think that’d be really good especially if this is successful for clubs, and I definitely want to do another one next year,” Hosti said.
The Harvest Festival was a new opportunity for clubs to fundraise in a more interactive way, and so be on the lookout for more club fundraisers in the future.
