Vernon Hills High helping children's hospital
Vernon Hills High School students are teaming with the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago for a Spirit Week project.
The teens are raising money for the hospital with a variety of events and competitions, including a special dance scheduled for Saturday night.
They're also signing banners to send to the hospital as a way to cheer up and support the young patients there.
"They're not only raising funds, they're raising spirits," Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 spokeswoman Mary Todoric said.
Members of Vernon Hills High's student council worked with hospital representatives to come up with ways to support the hospital, its patients and their families.
The project has been dubbed "Come On, Let's Donate," or COLD. The goal is to raise $5,000.
Spirit Week events traditionally pit the members of the freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior classes against each other in fun competitions. At Vernon Hills High, the kids are playing games and participating in other activities that will raise money for the hospital.
For example, the "Change for Change" competition encourages students to donate their spare change.
Money can be donated in the school foyer during lunch periods but also on specially created websites, one for each class.
Big community service projects aren't new at Vernon Hills High. In recent years, students have teamed with a charitable organization called COVE Alliance to raise money for the construction and support of a school in Uganda.
"Vernon Hills High School students have really touched people around the world, and now it's coming full circle in the Chicago area," Todoric said.
Saturday's dance at the high school finishes Spirt Week. Instead of being a formal soiree, the event will be casual so more students can participate and contribute to the hospital drive, officials said.
"Rather than spending all the money on a traditional turnabout (dance), the students will have the opportunity to still have a fun evening but donate the money they would have spent to help others," Todoric said.