Sophie Hefter
Theme Editor
From Holiday Benefit Shows to Comedy Sport matches, Mira Costa students have been fundraising throughout December for the Richstone Family Center’s Adopt-A-Family program that occurs annually at Costa.
The Adopt-A-Family program, put on by the Richstone Center, has been a program at Costa for over 25 years and is coordinated by ASB. Each year, homeroom classes and clubs are able to “adopt a family” to provide gifts during the holiday season. It is part of Costa’s annual Operation Happiness event that also includes a Salvation Army canned food drive and Angel Tree in which classes provide pajamas and a toy for children in need.
“It’s an awesome experience for all of us to be able to work with these great organizations to provide help for all those in need,” senior Keeli Hartley said. “It’s a great opportunity for students to do one small thing to help a family out in these hard times.”
Adopt-A-Family is just one aspect of Costa’s Operation Happiness, which is a program designed to aid families in crisis due to unemployment, homelessness, medical issues and other challenging circumstances. It helps to provide families with resources to have a pleasant holiday experience that they normally wouldn’t be able to experience. Costa is just one of the program’s many sponsors during the holiday season. There are over 30 Salvation Army representatives in the Los Angeles area and several other schools that assist nearby each area.
“This holiday event gives us the opportunity to give back to our community and ensure that those not as fortunate as we are are still able to have a great holiday season,” senior Sarah Childs said.
During the holiday season, classes at Costa donate gifts to an assigned family in need. The Drama and Tech Department has taken on a big role in this fundraiser by taking on two large, eight-person families.
“The drama department has always been huge on donating to families in need during the holidays because not everyone is fortunate enough to receive gifts for the holidays,” junior Hannah Ryan said.
A benefit show was held by the Drama and Tech Department on Nov. 5 along with a Comedy Sportz match held on Dec. 8 to raise money. To watch the match, attendees had to donate three cans of food or five dollars to the cause.
“It’s an amazing feeling to give back to the community through our love of performing arts and good jokes,” senior Toby Kamish said. “The fundraiser was a success because it allowed us to raise money to provide as much as we can for the two families. We were able to raise money from the proceeds of the match to use towards tending to the needs of each one of the family members’ individual needs.”
Leave a Reply