By: Rashu Jain
In early August, a tragic flood occurred in Louisiana that left thousands of the Southern Louisiana residents homeless. The flooding took the lives of 13 innocent people and is considered the biggest disaster in the United States since Hurricane Sandy. This natural disaster hit close to home for quite a few of our fellow FBLA members at Seven Lakes High School, so our chapter decided to help. Our FBLA Chapter desired to raise money as well as awareness for the victims of the flooding by organizing a raffle at our school. Our officer team went to various restaurants and franchises to request for donations such as gift cards, gift baskets, coupons, etc. After weeks of contacting different restaurant and store managers, we collected numerous gift cards from places such as Carrabbas, Office Max, Target, Bonefish Grill, etc. In addition, we collected and created gift baskets with merchandise items donated from restaurants and stores. After gathering the raffle prizes, we sold raffle tickets at our school lunches to the students and to our community members. Our raffle took place during our monthly meetings in November and with the help of our fellow FBLA and community members, we raised $4,690! The money was donated to a fund within the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to get supplies and necessities for the victims of the flooding. We are extremely thankful that we got the opportunity to help our neighbors and support the victims. The project has made an impact on our chapter and we look forward to doing more community service projects in the spring semester!