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Sam Rayburn High School students are making a difference one spirit shirt at a time.
The Student Council recently led a school-wide clothing drive to benefit children in Africa. Within a short period of time, students worked tirelessly to collect over 150 clothing items mainly consisting of spirit shirts and hats, from nearly all campus organizations and clubs including the TexAnns, Orchestra, Choir, Ecosquad, BPA, the College Club and more to donate to children overseas.
"This was an amazing chance to participate in an international project and help children across the world," Ashley Webb, an AP English teacher at Rayburn High School, said. "Our students loved seeing the kids wearing Rayburn spirit shirts, and it was a great way for them to see the impact they can make through donations and volunteering.”
The donation marked a successful collaborative effort by the school and Our Community Giving, a non-profit Houston-area organization that supports charitable community initiatives. Organization representatives filled mountain-sized containers with the donated clothes and put them on a cargo ship to Nampula Province in Mozambique, located in the south-east region of Africa, where children received their new shirts.
Rayburn High School junior and School Council parliamentarian Jocelyne Huitron was happy knowing she could make a difference from another part of the world.
“The experience was life changing,” she said. “Seeing the smiles on those kids was truly heart warming and worth the effort.”
This is the second year Rayburn has donated clothes overseas. Last year, the Student Council collected shirts that were donated by members of the organization. But this year -- determined to get more students involved in the effort -- they banded together with almost every Rayburn High School organization and club and tripled the amount of clothes donated to Africa.
Diane Howard, director of Our Community Giving, was impressed that the entire school worked together to make the initiative successful.
“If there’s a need, they fill it,” Howard said. “These are a good group of kids. They optimize the spirit of giving.”
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