School goes blue for child abuse awareness
PALS collect donations for abused children through the month of April
May 21, 2016
PALS raise awareness for children and teens that have been abused or are being abused. The color blue is the color for child abuse which helped the PALS create the fundraiser and event Blue Out Bowie.
Originally Blue Out Bowie was just a day where the school wore blue and know has grown into a massive school wide fundraiser that students participate i.
“Blue Out Bowie started in 2013 as just a general way for the whole school to come together and wear blue to raise awareness for child abuse,” PALS sponsor Alejandro Garcia said.
“In 2014, 2015, and 2016 we have also made it a fundraiser to collect goods and toiletries supplies for the Austin center for child protection.”
Senior Kaylen Combs has been a PAL for two years and has a special spot in her heart for children since she is always surrounded by them.
“Being a PAL you get a PAL from an elementary school and I am a gymnastics instructor at The Little Gym and teach classes there. Children influence my life because they make me see things through their eyes and it makes me appreciate all of the little things in life and see things differently,” Combs said.
A major part of Blue Out Bowie was preparation for everything ranging from making posters to the big cookie day.
“We prepared by making signs that were in front of all the halls, we put up flyers all over the school, we also talked to a couple of teachers who we asked to help us raise donations for the fundraiser,” Senior Nick Anagnos said. “Also, we were spreading the word through social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter.”
Last year the fundraiser raised enough donations to fill up two trucks and a whole storage unit at the children’s center.
“This year we’ve gotten, deodorant, body wash, shampoo, socks, diapers, every school supply you can imagine from paper to colored pencils to crayons, the communities really came together strong this year,” Garcia said. “Last year we had to take two trucks to deliver the supplies and we might even have to get three trucks this year. The donation collection have been so good this year and they get better over the years.”
For an event like this people need to be supportive and come together as a community to raise awareness for something, and for Garcia, Bowie is a perfect example of this type of community.
“This school is very fortunate to be where we are, we have the community that surrounds us and the people from that community are able to give back whether it’s through donations or even general participation in an event where you wear blue,” Garcia said. “This might even be something that affects someone at the school I mean there probably are people at this school who have gone through abuse or neglect at this school and it really just hits home and allows people to get back.”
