By Alessia Pizzorni
The United Way student campaign sparked class rivalry at Miami Beach Senior High during the last week of October. The annual campaign consisted of ongoing and daily competitive events, including penny wars, senior auctions, faculty pie-in-theface, and donation collections in every classroom.
The Student Government Association held meetings every Monday prior to the campaign to brainstorm fundraising strategies.
“The activities were really fun and encouraged students to give back to their community while showing lots of school spirit,” said sophomore class representative Gabriela Lins. “It started to get competitive, which was exactly what we wanted. That way, more and more money was donated.”
Miami-Dade County Public Schools have the largest United Way school campaign in the nation, according to Ana Martinez, Director of Development of United Way of Miami-Dade.
“Thanks to all of our contributions last year, United Way re-invested $13 million back into programs that serve our schools,” said Jacqueline Tedaldi, evelopment Officer at United Way of Miami- Dade.
According to Martinez, the money students raise assists three main areas in the community: education, income, and health. Volunteers decide where the funds are directed. They conduct a thorough procedure of auditing, processing, and interviewing to make sure that the money is well invested within the community.
The United Way school campaign works to improve quality of life by funding over 150 programs, including the American Red Cross of Greater Miami and the Keys, Aspira of Florida, Inc., and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Miami. United increases the impact of student donations by matching 95 cents for each dollar raised.
“We feel that every gift counts and every gift matters,” said Martinez.
