Teachers and staff of H V Jenkins High School recently worked together to donate over five months' worth of laundry detergent to the local Ronald McDonald House. The donation drive was organized by two teachers in the building who turned it into a spirited competition to fill what had been identified as a top need at RMH.
Dubbed “SuperBowl 2.0," the competition had each department and office organized into teams named after an NFL franchise. Held over a period of two weeks, teams competed to see who could bring in the most laundry detergent for donation to the Ronald McDonald House. The winner was decided by the team who donated the most by ounces. In the end, the school raised over 9,600 ounces of laundry detergent which will wash over 6,000 loads of laundry for the guests and staff of the Ronald McDonald House.
“It was nice to see our staff come together and do something for the community," said one staff member. According to competition organizers, the event was two-fold in purpose with the primary focus being to help the school neighbors at the RMH. Secondly, it was to bring staff together and improve morale. As one teacher pointed out, “It is important, especially this year, to make sure our staff feel like a team and have a spirit of camaraderie. This competition was a fun way to do that." Although each group and department made a strong showing for the competition, only one team was deemed the winner and awarded a catered breakfast generously donated by the Original Pancake House.
“We hope to turn this into a yearly competition among the staff now," said event co-organizer and teacher Dan Kamykowski. “With the Ronald McDonald House just down the street from us, we really want to be good neighbors and help them with their endeavors." Heidi Decker, Spanish teacher, was also an organizer and was delighted how much the competition brought the staff together, “It was super fun and super rewarding to see the donations rolling in and filling up my classroom. Our staff is already very cohesive, but this spirited competition coupled with our spirit of wanting to support the RMH as a staff is what made is so successful."
Congratulations to all!
