Members of the Health Career Club and volunteers are shown at the 5K Fun Run on July 14. (Photo from Southwick Health Careers Club)
SOUTHWICK – The four students of the Health Careers Club at the Southwick Regional School are continuing to progress with their fundraising efforts for the purchase of a code-blue light system to be installed on the school track.
Julia Fox, Clair Stratton, Jackie Seddon, and Arden Massoia, are spearheading the fundraising while Southwick Regional School nurse Marcia Lamoreaux is supervising the project.
On Saturday July 14, the Health Careers Club hosted a 5K Fun Run on the track of the school in partnership with a local non-profit organization, Run Southwick. According to Lamoreaux, there were 65 participants for the event, which helped raise just over $600.
Although the goal was to raise around $2,000 from the fun run, the progress that the club has made since the beginning of this project has been considered a success.
“The fact that we’ve raised that much in that amount of time is amazing,” said Lamoreaux.
Since their first fundraiser in February, the students have continued to raise money but have also received nearly $1,000 each from both the Southwick and Granville Select Boards. The Southwick Regional School Class of 2017 donated $1,500 as well. The code-blue light system costs around $7,500.
The code blue light system would alert the Southwick Police Department of an emergency that is happening on or near the track via a visible and well marked button for someone to push in order to notify the police. The power to run the system would be coming from the school, but the exact way hasn’t been determined yet.
Additionally, an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) would be installed on the track for residents to use in event of an emergency. There will be no cost associated with the AED since KEVS Foundation has decided to donated an AED towards the project. A non-profit organization located in Western Massachusetts, KEVS Foundation focuses on educating and helping prevent Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
A new law in Massachusetts effective July 1 requires all schools to have AED’s on site at all school-sponsored events. This includes extra-curricular activities like sporting events.
According to Lamoreaux, the next fundraising idea is to have a pancake breakfast once the 2018-19 school year kicks off. Lamoreaux also pointed out that the Health Careers Club held a car wash earlier this year that raised around $500 and another car wash could be in the near future.
