Paradise football players huddle up with their coaches at a recent game. Photo: GoFundMe.com.
The principal at the school from Northern California town destroyed by the Camp Fire on Thursday, Nov. 8, has a GoFundMe account set up to benefit students (and athletes). As of Monday, Nov. 19, the goal of reaching $100,000 for these student was not close to halfway there.
Anyone associated with a California high school athletic team as a coach or parent should consider donating to this fund. Let’s show Paradise the rest of the state in high school sports is thinking about their kids. We all saw the football team at Levi’s Stadium last week with the San Francisco 49ers after it had to concede its CIF Northern Section D2 playoff game vs. Red Bluff. The Bobcats had to end at 8-2 but since one of their wins was against Northern Sec D2 top seed Chico, who knows what they would have done had this tragedy not struck their community?
Here is the statement from principal Loren Lighthall of Paradise on GoFundMe.com:
“We are raising money for the students of PHS. We are a high poverty school with 67% of students qualifying for free lunch. We have approximately 1000 students and almost every one of them have lost their homes and everything they own. If you want to help please consider giving to the students of Paradise High School. This funds will be used for purchasing and distributing gift cards. We have set up a committee to ensure the funds are distributed fairly to the most needed students and affected families.”
GO TO THE GOFUNDME ACCOUNT SET UP TO SUPPORT PARADISE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BY CLICKING HERE.
Secondly, we want to offer a salute in this post to junior Lucas Giarrusso at Menlo-Atherton High in Atherton. Working with M-A athletic director Paul Snow, they are raising funds for the Paradise football players by collecting donations at the Bears’ CIF Central Coast Section football playoff games.
“After hearing about Paradise, I messaged their football players on Instagram and got to know the situation,” Giarrusso said. “I then messaged Paul Snow and raised $2,200. We got donations from my school, Palo Alto, Wilcox, Piedmont Hills, Salinas, Palma and Milpitas.”
Lucas will be out at the Menlo-Atherton playoff game this week against Palo Alto continuing to look for donations. If you are at that game, thank Lucas for what he’s doing or if you are at another of the CCS games, just take a couple of bucks out of your pocket and give them to that donation drive.
“I believe not that it is our duty, but our obligation to use platform for a good cause because as always, football is family,” he said. “My goal is to raise $25,000, and I believe, that anything is possible with strength in numbers.”
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle:
