This article originally appeared in the Nov. 19, 2021, print issue of The Accolade. But in that version, it abruptly ended. This is the full story.

 Minute of Hope, a second-period fundraiser hosted last semester to help the needy during the holiday season, netted more than $1,600 in donations, exceeding the Associated Student Body [ASB] goal of $1,000.

“[We were] excited about it, and it shows how the school is really caring and giving as a community,” ASB co-adviser Mike Paris said. “Students try to do whatever they can, whenever they can [to help the community].”

The ASB transferred the collected funds on the same day as the Nov. 17 fundraiser to the Parent Teacher Student Association [PTSA], which then sent a representative to hand-deliver a check to Pathways of Hope, a Fullerton-based non-profit organization that provides necessities for needy families, Paris said.

The more than $1,600 collected will provide for the needs of homeless people and low-income families within the Fullerton Joint Union High School District, he said.

In the meantime, the ASB co-adviser said two weeks’ worth of non-perishable canned food or new toys have been collected from a donation box placed where the thermal cameras were located last semester – between the main office and the 20s wings – before and after school, break and lunch.

Staff and students had until Nov. 29 to fill up the box with items for the needy, he said. The PTSA also took these goods to Pathways of Hope.

Minute of Hope mirrored that of the Oct. 1 Miracle Minute breast cancer awareness fundraiser in which the ASB gave students in their Period 2 classes one minute to drop their cash donations into an envelope.

Although he estimated that the holiday drive would bring in a total of $1,000, Paris said he did not doubt the student body’s ability to exceed his expectations.

“It’s a nice increase, and I know Pathways of Hope appreciates it,” he said.

With a total of almost $80 raised, English teacher Jennifer Kim’s second period English 1 Honors class was announced as having collected the most amount of money among all other classes – Kim’s class also topped others during the Miracle Minute fundraiser.

“I felt we had done something good,” said freshman Zoey Matthews, one of the students in Kim’s second period class. “Just by donating spare change or money, we were able to help people in need.”