In early March of this year my school’s student council was looking for a new fundraiser to finish off the school year. Everyone was asked to come back to the next meeting with ideas.

My mom had just started working at the Wood’s Homes Foundation and she had told me about how the EXIT Program needed donations. I thought that it would be a great idea to have a fundraiser and get students at my school to bring in items that the EXIT program needed.

The student council loved the idea and soon we were setting dates and making posters. We asked for many items including bus tickets, sunscreen, pants and sweaters. The donations came slowly at first, but soon we had started to fill up the staff room.

After the four weeks of raising items we started to count and sort. We were all amazed by how much people had donated. Here were these junior high kids making a difference. Our grand total was 1128 items!

I knew Wood’s Homes was the right place to help because the teens and young adults in the EXIT Program are just like me, but not as fortunate as I am to have a roof over my head and have 3 warm meals a day.

I learned that just because someone may not be as fortunate as you, doesn’t mean they’re any less deserving than you.