10 - Feature
Students create organizations; host events to create tangible change in the community
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Crafting a Cure
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Senior Evan Steinberg brings art crafts to cancer patients
eartbroken from the death of his friend Ian Besner, due to the harsh treatment regimens for leukemia, senior Evan Steinberg began the program I Care I Cure I Create. The organization’s mission includes giving hospitalized children an outlet to be creative and express themselves—their feelings and frustrations—and provide an uplifting, fun break during their hospital stay. “Art can be a form of communication when it isn’t possible to communicate in traditional ways, and that’s why I love it,” Steinberg said. After holding several donation drives at school, Steinberg and a new group of volunteers began crafting holiday gift bags filled with the donated art supplies and coloring books for the children being treated at the hospital. Even after bringing his love of art to the patients of Joe DiMaggio, here Besner went through his treatment, Steinberg still has a bright future planned for the program. “With our ever-growing pool of volunteers, we are planning to expand the project to even more hospitals in South Florida. I Care I Cure will not just be at Joe DiMaggio,” Steinberg said. “I’m planning even more events for this calendar year with other ICIC clubs in Florida, and will be utilizing all of the great people and resources we are blessed with to reach out to all the other pediatric patients in need of a positive experience during their difficult stays.” Steinberg is aware, however, that eventually he will have to look for someone to take over his project. He believes that the program will continue to grow both at MSD students, as well as with himself as he continues the project in college. “After I graduate high school this year,” he said. “I hope to start an I Care I Cure service club at whatever college I end up attending, and work with local hospitals to take the program to new heights.” Story by Amit Dadon and Gillian Marton; photo courtesy of Evan Steinberg
Design by Amit Dadon and Gillian Marton
Senior Bailey Davis hosts Zumba event to support “Honor Flight”
enior Bailey Davis, recently certified as a Zumba instructor, led a Zumba event to support Honor Flight, a nonprofit organization created to honor World War I veterans and the sacrifices they have made for our country by sending them —free of charge—to Washington, D.C. to see their own National Memorial. “Every day, more and more of these courageous people are dying without ever having had the opportunity to visit this memorial,” Davis said. “The veterans we help out with this program just love seeing so many of these young people showing their support, and allowing them to visit what some of them would otherwise never get the chance to see and experience.” Davis’s fundraising event took place on Sunday, Feb. 21 from 2–4 p.m. at Loibel’s Dance Studio, located in Boca Raton. “Once the studio costs and instructors are paid, all of the remaining money we raised through the ticket and raffle sales go to the Honor Flight organization,” Davis said. “On top of that, NHS is going to fully match any donation I make, allowing for even more veterans to be flown out to D.C. What I’m doing is not a school or NHS sponsored event... Rather, it is an initiative I began on my own accord to find a way to give back to the community.” According to Davis, once all the expenses—mainly the studio time and the instructor’s rates—are paid, all of the remaining money raised through the ticket and raffle sales will go to the “Honor Flight” program. In addition to donating their time through the Zumba event, students are also able to support Honor Flight by attending the program’s homecoming events, and simply cheering on these veterans as they make their return home from their fundraised trip to Washington D.C. In total, the Zumba event raised about $150, with NHS following through on its promise, matching the amount in full—making the total over $300. Story by Amit Dadon and Gillian Marton; photo courtesy of Bailey Davis
