By Jane Sharp and Elizabeth Hammers | Myers Park DECA, NC
This school year, Myers Park DECA launched a community service initiative entitled “Shine a Light, Share the Fight,” to raise money and awareness for families battling pediatric cancer. We worked closely with local nonprofit Claire’s Army and hosted several events to support our cause.
Firstly, at our September 11th chapter meeting, we launched our campaign to our chapter. We split into small groups to explain the motivation behind this campaign—DECA’s partnership with the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation—and everything we had planned for the following months.
During the first week of October, the MP DECA officers ran “Shine Week,” an initiative aimed at raising awareness of our campaign and cause. We set up several booths in the grassy quad area of our high school, where we coordinated games and activities, including trivia, poster-making and card-writing.
During Shine Week, we had a meeting filled with Shine-a-Light-themed activities. Our October 9th chapter meeting featured crafting awareness posters for display at an upcoming football game and assembling gold bracelets to wear at our school and in our community.
Shine Week culminated in our Gold Out football game, with over 1,000 community members in attendance, all decked out in gold to raise awareness for pediatric cancer. We tracked DECA attendance through our raffle fundraiser, in which members contributed for a chance to win one of many gift baskets made from In-Kind donations from local businesses.
We also had a special guest named Alex, who was an 8-year-old girl who overcame cancer with the help of Claire’s Army at just the age of 6. She got a complimentary bag full of gold goodies for the game. She even got to do the coin toss with the football captains from both Myers Park and Hopewell to kick off the game.
Almost a week after “Shine Week,” we wanted to maintain the momentum from our campaign's impact. So on October 14th, the officers hosted a “Shine Breakfast” to further educate the chapter. This included sharing testimonies of children and families who were helped by Claire’s Army, the organization the chapter partnered with. At breakfast, members enjoyed a filling meal that included donuts and bananas, and we couldn't forget the orange juice!
On Friday, November 14th, the Myers Park DECA chapter hosted a “Shine Walk.” During this walk, we had dozens of students sponsored by family and friends, who walked for approximately $30 per student. Once the members arrived at the track, they bought one of the “Shine a Light, Share the Fight” t-shirts and walked over four laps each. During this activity, the officers educated the chapter about what they were walking for and the reasons behind it.
These events were primarily promoted on our Instagram account, @decamyerspark. We launched several series of posts throughout the fall season, encouraging members to attend our events with eye-catching graphics, relatable reels, and photos from events.
Finally, we hosted a chapter meeting on November 11th to thank our members for their hard work and participation, and celebrate the difference we made in our Charlotte community. Overall, we reached 76% attendance, with 145 of our 191 members attending at least one of our Shine a Light, Share the Fight events.
