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Every year at Christmas time NS runs a fundraiser for people that need it. The last few years the fundraiser has gone toward the Make-A-Wish foundation, which is dedicated to granting wishes for kids who are recovering from major illnesses.
“Overall the money is just going to Make- A-Wish. However they guarantee that the kid that’s the face of our campaign will get their wish,” student government advisor Austin Ison said.
This year’s face is Alejandro Contreras, the 12 year old son of NS soccer coach Rafael Contreras. Alejandro was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor last year.
“He was perfectly fine, he had no symptoms of anything, and then one day I decided we should go to the
fair,” Perla Contreras, Alejandro’s mother, said. “He bonked his head, and then he started having symptoms
of a concussion. [The doctors] told us that he was going to get better but then he didn’t. So we ended up going back and that’s when they found his tumor.”
Last Christmas instead of raising money for Make-A-Wish, all the money raised for
“Christmas for an Angel” was donated to the Contreras family specifically, to aid in paying for the expensive treatment.
“And so after they found the tumor they told us that it was cancerous and that he would have to do treatment for a year. So luckily they were able to take all of the tumor out, and he got to ring his bell in October,” Contreras said.
After cancer treatment has finished, patients get to ring a bell that hangs in the hospital. The ringing of the bell is momentous, indicating the final treatment. It’s a significant milestone for those who are fighting this difficult battle, a milestone that not all patients get to see.
Even though a child rings their bell, it doesn’t mean they are completely out of the woods. It does mean that they are ready to start the next chapter of their lives. When a child is feeling well enough to engage in whatever their wish is, that is when they become the face of the campaign.
“They usually assign kids as the face of a campaign when they plan to grant their wish soon,” Ison said. “But they usually wait until the parents give the okay . . . [and] feeling well enough to go on their trip, or whatever it is they decide.”
This year Alejandro’s wish is to go to Universal Studios. To get him there, NS’s goal is to raise $7,000. Not only will Alejandro’s wish be granted, but the money that NS donates will also go towards granting other kids’ wishes.
“We’ve done Make-A-Wish in the past, and Make-A- Wish is a foundation that is already set up,”student body vice president Alivia Madsen said. “So they collect donations from the communities, and instead of it going to one specific kid all the money will go to the foundation and get distributed through kids.”
Each area or school has a different face of the campaign, so that people know who the money is going towards. After the money is raised and given to Make-A-Wish the foundation distributes it to various kids in their system so that their wishes can be granted.
Not only does raising money mean enjoying the NS staff’s exciting pledges, such as teachers handing out gift cards or making breakfast for students, it also means helping families who need it. Helping kids to enjoy something special, that they might not have the opportunity to do otherwise.
“Just thank you for everything,” Contreras said, “Everyone has always been super sweet and nice to all of us, not just Alejandro. But every time they see him they always make him feel special and I really appreciate that.”
