An excited parade of students comes up Lovers Lane from Milwood as they eagerly await the start of the Homecoming football game. As they turn the corner, they are greeted with games and a table of snacks and drinks. While this may just seem like a fun pregame activity, it is a way to raise money and spread awareness on vital community issues.

On Friday, Oct. 10, the Loy Norrix DECA club hosted a tailgate preceding the Homecoming football game. The club set up games and sold snacks to raise money for DECA and to spread domestic violence awareness. The club also organized a “Miracle Minute” after the first quarter of the football game, in which members passed buckets around the bleachers for 60 seconds to collect spare change from students and parents to donate to muscular dystrophy research.

Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that causes muscle weakening over time and can eventually lead to trouble walking, lack of balance, frequent falling and heart problems. DECA has a partnership with the Muscular Dystrophy Association to raise money and spread awareness for the disease. Senior Dominic Abate, who is the president of DECA, says club members work hard to support the organization and raise funding for muscular dystrophy research.

“There’s no cure for muscular dystrophy,” said Abate. “The association helps with research, and it also helps send people who have it to camp. It’s a really cool organization and association. That’s why we partner with them.”

Abate played a major role in organizing the Miracle Minute, working directly with staff and his fellow DECA members.

“The organizing for it was a lot of trying to find volunteers, trying to spread awareness to our club of what it actually is, getting with the athletic director, Coach Kyle, and talking to Mr. Hosler, who does the announcements,” said Abate. “Hopefully it all runs smoothly and hopefully everything’s set.”

Senior Alice Damashek was in charge of organizing the tailgate. She finds that supporting community organizations and good causes is essential to building a healthy community.

“Mr. Ward brought up the idea of having a domestic violence awareness table. It was an issue he had in mind for a long time and he thought that I was the right person for it,” said Damashek. “It’s a good cause that needs to be highlighted, especially in times of need.”

Abate added that spreading awareness on domestic violence can encourage students who are experiencing domestic violence or know someone who is to seek help.

“There are a lot of people that are secretly going through this and it’s a really bad issue that we have going on,” said Abate. “There’s a lot of deaths; a lot of people are harmed by domestic violence and there’s a lot of people at our school that have experienced domestic violence and just haven’t had support, so just seeing our booth out here gives them a reminder that there is hope.”

This was Damashek’s first project with DECA. Even though she operated under a tight deadline, her hard work and support from her teammates made the project’s success possible.

“DECA has helped me a lot when it came to clarifying questions and helping me with the blueprint. Mr. Ward and my co-partner and Jenna Webster did a lot of talking and figuring out what was possible in such a short period of time,” said Damashek. “I mostly took charge with the organizational process, getting things together and talking to Mr. Laboe.

These fundraisers are just the beginning of DECA’s goals for the year. They have many more things planned to raise money for the club and for other good causes. Damashek believes that Mr. Ward is a big reason DECA is able to do so many great things.

“I wish that Mr. Ward got more recognition for all that he does for the program and I wish that he had more support from the school because I think he has a lot on his plate,” said Damashek. “He’s doing an amazing job.”