Polk County High School FBLA Community Service Projects
This year in FBLA we are acquiring new projects to better ourselves as well as our communities. On a national level, FBLA is reaching out through March of Dimes, Mission LIFT Grants, and Service Learning to help better our nation as a whole.
On a more local scale, Polk County High School FBLA is using Take-a-Hike, Shoot-for-a-Cure, Give Water a Helping Hand, Donate Blood, and Helping Paws Healing Hearts to reach out to those in our community who need help.
In America, 35.9 million people live below the poverty line, and one in five Americans are disabled while one in ten are diagnosed with severe disability. The majority of patients in need of a blood transfusion use four units of blood, and one in five births in America are premature. Everyday the population increases, causing additional problems and stresses to arise. Students and teachers involved in FBLA help improve related issues by participating in the Blood Drive, participating and spreading the word about Take-a-Hike to keep our community healthy, participating in Shoot for a Cure to lower Tennessee's 214.7 cancer mortality rate, and participating in the March of Dimes. These different projects are not just an avenue for entertainment or something to do, they are a way to give back to our world and to make a difference; even if only for one life. Look at our Local Projects.
Take-a-Hike
Prematurity Awareness
Shoot for a Cure
Give Water a Helping Hand
Donate Blood
Helping Paws Healing Hearts
Take-a-Hike is a marathon in which hikers tread along the Great Smokey Mountains. Experienced hikers will hike through John Muir Trail for twenty miles of beautiful scenery and challenge. Less experienced hikers or someone looking for an easy trail will be directed to Benton Falls Trail. The proceeds from this project go to the March for Babies campaign now in motion through National FBLA. Also, a part of the proceeds go to families who may not be able to fully provide for everyone under their care. The dates for Take-a-hike are May first, eighth, and fifteenth. The hike will begin at 7 A.M. Hikers will be provided with water and snacks at certain points along their trails. Medical aid will be available. The deadline for registration to hike will be April 16th, 2010. The proceeds for impoverished families will be given to the Polk County Baptist Association for distribution. We ask that you participate to help meet the needs of both babies and hurting families. Any contribution will be greatly appreciated. Polk County High School FBLA members have been given a challenge to sign up hikers. The member with the highest number of signees will be given a chance to job shadow a professional of their choice.
PCHS FBLA is also collecting coke can tabs to help with prematurity awareness. March for Babies supports research and programs to help babies in your community and across the country get a healthy start. We accept collections in only gallon jugs. Join March for Babies and a million compassionate people in nearly 1,100 communities across the nation, including 24,000 company and family teams as well as our national sponsors who walk each year. FBLA-PBL is a March for Babies partner, so put on your shoes and walk for the cause. Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors are competing for the largest collection of tabs. The winning class will have the opportunity to go take a tour of the University of Tennessee or a local college. The class will vote as a whole to decide.
Shoot-for-a-Cure is an event which takes place every other Tuesday of each month from three to five in the afternoon. Students can come into the gymnasium and play basketball or just shoot some hoops. The fee is two dollars per person. Proceeds go to cancer awareness programs and research development projects. FBLA thought this would be a good way to start including minors in helping others. It will help guide children to help others at an early age, when one is most impressionable. This community service project will begin March 2nd, 2010 and will end May 11th, 2010. We ask that parents encourage their children to come out and participate. This is for children of any age and will be held in the Polk County High School gymnasium. A small snack will be given upon entrance. Money is taken at the door. A onetime fee of twenty dollars can be given on the first visit and will allow that child entrance to every event without paying the fee of two dollars. This project is going to go through PCHS English classes. The class who participates and volunteers the most will receive a t-shirt as well as the opportunity to go see a play on May fourteenth at the Chattanooga Theater Centre.
Polk County High School FBLA is starting the process of learning about water in our area. We are discovering how people use water, where it comes from, and frequent pollutants. We are studying water flow and how our watershed affects our area.
The next step in our process will be to discover what actions need to be taken to help our water sources here in the Tennessee Valley. In our timeline, after discoveries of what needs to be done are made, an expert in water conservation and pollution will be consulted for the most effective methods of cleaning up our area. We have started by evaluating what we can do to help in our school alone. Some changes have already been made in our school. Hand sanitizers are used instead of soap and water. Drink machines now contain recyclable bottles of water. Sinks have been made automatic, so that when they are used, only water that is needed is available. Classes that use chemicals and hazardous materials are being encouraged to dispose of these materials in the most eco-friendly ways possible. Our architectural classes are evaluating the water supply and flow around our school to decide what the best use would be.
FBLA is informing and encouraging students to reduce water use in their homes as well. They can take shorter showers, reduce running water, and look at the water flow direction around their house to see if any changes should be made for the cleanliness of the water. We want to help our planet by cleaning up our water. Help us spread the word out to our community. We have issued a challenge to classes around the school. The class that can come up with the most efficient water use ideas will be given a reward. They will be taken to the local hydroelectric dam on a tour. Get involved in your local high school. Promote eco-friendly future business leaders and environmental awareness.
The blood drive takes place twice a year here at Polk County High School. We give students age sixteen and up the opportunity to donate blood to the Blood Assurance Organization. Students under the age of sixteen may donate with a parent's permission. The latest drive we had here at PCHS was to support the late Kay Maynor, who was diagnosed with leukemia. Each drive can save hundreds of lives and it is a privilege and honor to be able to help these people. Someone in the United States needs blood every two seconds and people need more the thirty eight thousand donations daily. The most universal type of blood is type o. This blood type can be given to anyone regardless of their blood type. It is the most in demand and the most needed, with the shortest supply. One hundred pints of blood can be used in only one accident victim. Average adults have ten pints of blood in their body and one pint is used in donation. People need our help. Will you give today? All blood donated goes to local hospitals to help victims who are suffering from extreme blood loss. Many lives can be saved from any blood donation. Your local Blood Assurance will take donations as well. Donate today!
Amy Hicks and her non-profit organization, Helping Paws Healing Hearts, are reaching out to children in our area. They are providing therapeutic and educational programs for Head Start, schools, after-school programs, churches, and juvenile facilities. Also, this program sponsors two grief camps each year that provide children with counseling and the ability to “get out of their shells”. This project held a Helping Paws Healing Hearts night at Chick-Fil-A in Bradley County on Monday night, March twenty-ninth from five to eight p.m. For all orders taken in that three hour time period, a part of the proceeds went to Helping Paws Healing Hearts. Amy and her two dogs, Larry and Dayrl, go around and help children respond in a way they might usually struggle with. The two dogs have a way with the kids that make them feel secure and as though they can do things that are normally out of their comfort range. Students at PCHS are being challenged to learn and discover more about this program. PCHS FBLA members will make a presentation to the administration at the school using information gathered by the students to have the dogs come tour school and visit our CDC students. You can help by donating money to the Helping Paws Healing Hearts Program or by having someone from FBLA come talk to your business and community today!
All projects above will end at the duration of the school year, unless it is a community service project done yearly or otherwise specified. Contact here to participate in any of the above projects.
