Lakeview Student Club Dedicates Itself to Community Service

A group of Lakeview High School students are gaining heartfelt lessons about the rewards of helping others.

Previously called SoEmo, the group has renamed itself Huskies with Heart and has grown from approximately 16 students and two parents last year to 60 students and 10 parents this year.

The main goal of Huskies with Heart is to build positive relationships with students, staff and the community, said Matt Barranca, the club’s staff adviser. The club embraces the values of optimism, promotes respect for self and others, and pursues opportunities for community service, Barranca said.

“It seems that our society tends to look down upon the teenage demographic. We want to instill a spirit of giving in the teenage demographic of our society, because they are typically considered to be self-centered and not philanthropic,” Barranca said.

The group is also the first Junior Optimist Club in the city, and the Optimist Club of St. Clair Shores is sponsoring them by paying their enrollment and registration fees, as well as the members’ dues.

Last year, the group organized several charitable initiatives, such as raising funds for Thanksgiving food baskets, wrapping Christmas presents for Cops for Kids, and celebrating an (during which the school raised $900 for Turning Point).

This year, the students are carrying on these activities plus adding others, such as helping at the and the .

They also organized a on Sept. 23 to raise funds for Kids Against Hunger, where students and staff had an opportunity to wear a hat that day if they paid a nominal fee toward the cause.

Funds raised that day were used for The Kids Against Hunger meal-packaging activity Oct. 16 at . Many Lakeview students, staff and community members gathered to package 20,000 non-perishable meals that will be distributed locally, statewide and internationally.

The club’s most ambitious new activity this year is Charity Week, which will take place in early February. The goal is to select a charity and make it the school’s focus for one week. The students have selected Beaumont Children’s Hospital in Royal Oak.

The week will include various fundraising activities and will culminate in a 16-hour Dance Marathon that will begin the evening of Feb. 10 and end at noon the next day.

“It’s not necessarily 16 hours of consecutive dancing; it’s more like 16 hours of standing on your feet (in honor and support of the patients of Children’s Hospital) with dancing mixed in,” Barranca said.

The club is basing their event on the annual Dance Marathon at the University of Michigan. Attendees will enjoy video games, arts and crafts, team competitions, food and dancing.

Charity Week will help build a sense of community among the entire student body by focusing on one goal, Barranca said, adding that he hopes it becomes an annual tradition at the school.

Organizers also hope to arrange meetings between Lakeview students and patients at Children’s Hospital to create a deeper understanding of those benefiting from Charity Week.

“We really want to bridge the gap between our school and the hospital. It’s not every day that you can actually meet, and spend time with, the people who will be benefitting from your charity efforts,” Barranca said. “We want our kids to feel responsible to the patients at Children’s Hospital.”

Sponsoring the first Junior Optimist Club in the city is a huge point of pride for the Optimist Club of St. Clair Shores, said Debbie DePape, president of the club.

“We have tried over the years to spark interest for a junior club, but the timing just didn’t seem right. However, the wait has proved to be more than worth it,” DePape said. “We have a large group of dedicated teens from Lakeview High School who want to build positive relationships with students, staff and their community. The Optimist slogan is ‘Bringing out the Best in Kids’ and I can’t think of a better way to showcase what the youth of this community can achieve and what they’re all about.”