Interact Starts Student Run Drives for Local Projects

 

This past year, the Rhinebeck Interact Club hit the ground running after a successful summer, starting off the in the fall with several projects on the agenda. Over the summer students participated in an Astor Play Date: an activity fest with the students at Rhinebeck’s Astor Home for Children; and our biggest local project: MadDash. Led by club treasurer Charlie Derbyshire, co-president Rachel Dull, and three year member Katie Hall, the club ran the local marathon that the Church of the Messiah previously ran for several years. With the club’s energy on an all time high, students were already excited for a packed fall schedule.

In our first meeting the club made a list of all the projects and ideas they wanted to accomplish that year, and the following meeting began to plan them. A new concept Interact tried this year was not dissimilar to Rotary’s “committees.” Students volunteered to chair the projects on the idea-list and work on them throughout the year, some of the projects included a clothing drive, book drive, food drive, feminine hygiene product drive, and a childhood cancer research fundraiser. 

Each drive was run by teams of one underclassman and one upperclassman in collaboration with the rest of the club and the school district. Throughout the year, the project chairs planed the drives, set up boxes around the school, and reported on the progress of their projects (all of which were very successful).  

 

 

 

Interact Starts Student Run Drives for Local Projects

 

This past year, the Rhinebeck Interact Club hit the ground running after a successful summer, starting off the in the fall with several projects on the agenda. Over the summer students participated in an Astor Play Date: an activity fest with the students at Rhinebeck’s Astor Home for Children; and our biggest local project: MadDash. Led by club treasurer Charlie Derbyshire, co-president Rachel Dull, and three year member Katie Hall, the club ran the local marathon that the Church of the Messiah previously ran for several years. With the club’s energy on an all time high, students were already excited for a packed fall schedule.

In our first meeting the club made a list of all the projects and ideas they wanted to accomplish that year, and the following meeting began to plan them. A new concept Interact tried this year was not dissimilar to Rotary’s “committees.” Students volunteered to chair the projects on the idea-list and work on them throughout the year, some of the projects included a clothing drive, book drive, food drive, feminine hygiene product drive, and a childhood cancer research fundraiser. 

Each drive was run by teams of one underclassman and one upperclassman in collaboration with the rest of the club and the school district. Throughout the year, the project chairs planed the drives, set up boxes around the school, and reported on the progress of their projects (all of which were very successful).  

 

Student Run Drive Progress Reports:

 

Book Drive: The book drive, chaired by club secretary Lyla Andrick and sophomore member Jasmina Lodoe was supplemented by the “Curiosity Challenge.” Interact continued to support the Astor Home for Children by collecting books for their library, but decided to take on the challenge of reaching out to another  group of children in need: those on the Autism spectrum. The Curiosity Challenge, based on the novel A Curious Incident of the Dog In The Nighttime ,  focused on giving  books to the children at the Anderson Center For Austism. The Challenge was to purchase and donate the same number of books to Anderson as were collected for the children at Astor (up to three hundred dollars worth). During the two month drive Interact collected over three hundred books and sent a  check to Anderson to grow their library.

 

Food Drive: The food drive, run by co-president  Sarah Wood and junior Mikaela Torcello, ran during the entire school year collecting several boxes of non-perishable items that were donated to the local homeless shelters in Poughkeepsie.

 

Feminine Hygiene Product Drive: Run by co-president Rachel Dull and sophomore Elena Raccuia, this  year round drive collected boxes of women’s sanitary products and other amenities that were donated to the Grace Smith House. 

 

Childhood Cancer Research Fundraiser: Introduced to the club by senior member Maisy Holehouse, the Interact Club donated $200 dollars to the Childhood Cancer Research program selling lemonade at Porchfest and the Rhinebeck Tree lighting.