Destinee's Blog

During the holiday season. a non-profit organization, Dosomething.org, and Break.com are working together to help raise money and bring joy to the homeless and one’s in poverty through positive pranks.

“I think this is a very cool thing to do,” said Kim Evans, parent of a student in White Oak, “That is a specific group of people that are not expecting anything like that to happen to them.”

The organization surprises people in need with things that can help get them back on their feet, for example they turned the Ascencia homeless shelter in Glendale, California into a 5-star restaurant.

“I would personally like to get to help with this organization,” said freshman, Luisa Soto.

People can get involved with helping the organization by watching a prank video of their acts of kindness, which for every 1,000 views Break.com will donate 1 dollar and to raise the stakes they’ll donate a dollar for every share of the positive prank videos that includes the hashtag “#PrankItFWD” and all the money raised will go to the Dosomething.org organization.

“Sometimes when people are in need they go into a depression about their life and not only would Prank It Forward give them necessary items for their everyday needs it would also help them bring some humor back into their life and show that there are always going to be good people out there willing to help them,” said junior Landry Seimears.

For example of returning the humor as stated before one “prank” transformed a homeless shelter in Glendale, California into a Five-Star restaurant bringing tears of joy and swelling hearts to the ones living at the shelter, this video is available to be viewed on youtube.

“I believe this is an amazing idea and it would be really cool if our school could be apart of it,” said sophomore Jaci Wallace.

Sign-ups for the organaztion are still open, all one has to do is visit the site [sites.break.com/prank-it-fwd]  and enter your name, email, and what made you choose to be apart of the movement.

“A lot of times in our corrupt nation, we often overlook those that are barely getting by day-to-day,” said sophomore Ryan Owens. “While some come home to heated houses and pampering furniture, others sleep on chilled pavements that have been spit on and walked on over. This wonderful organization gives “people”- that’s right, they eat, sleep, and have feelings too- a fighting chance in this lousy society.”

In order to raise awareness for drug and alcohol consumption, Principal David Weeton will hold a forum on Thursday.

“We will inform parents that parents that they are breaking the law if they allow underage drinking consumption,” said Weeton.

Stated by junior Robert Earl, it is easy to access alcohol in Leaguetown and the parents may be at blame, so Weeton plans to make that known to them.

“Parents must understand that we have a drug and alcohol problem at Leaguetown,” said Weeton.

According to a survey in January more than 65 percent of kids obtain alcohol easily, which Weeton will also hit at the meeting.

“I think many parents are ignoring the signs that their children may be using drugs and alcohol,” said Weeton.

Senior Kiki Deeds said her parents even agree to pay for a cab if she will be drinking at a party. Which goes back to Weeton thinking parents may be ignoring the fact that their kids are using.

“You can get alcohol any weekend in Leaguetown,” said Earl.

The easy access to alcohol could potentially start an abuse or addiction to these drugs and alcohol, which reflects back to parents being aware of the issue at hand.

“It took his parents long time to recognize his problems,” said Weeton about Sam White, a 1999 Leaguetown graduate who will be speaking at the forum.

Had his parents acted faster, he may have gone to rehab much earlier. Which ties in with Weeton’s idea of the forum to get the parents informed.

“In the past, I think we brushed the problem under the rug,” said Weeton.

With Weeton organizing a series of speakers for this month and the forum, will raise awareness of drug and alcohol consumption to the parents and community members.

“We’ve been lucky that none of our kids have been killed in drunken driving accidents or overdoses, but I’m afraid if we don’t act, our luck is going to run out,” said Weeton.

The school board will vote Monday at 7 pm on junior Jim Stack’s request to grow out his hair for charity.
“I was disappointed when Mrs.King turned my request down,” junior Jim Stack said.
Principal Tonya King denied his request to grow his hair out to approximately 10 inches due to the school’s dress code, stating that a male student’s hair cannot be longer than the collar length, in order to donate it to a non-profit group Locks of Love, that takes wigs and gives them to children who lost their hair to a cancerous battle.
“We have rules for a reason and we just can’t go breaking them anytime we want,” Principal Tonya King said.
King said that she couldn’t allow one student to break the rules because it would cause complete chaos in the school. She suggested Stack take a different approach to help Locks of Love.
“Mrs.King said I should have a fundraiser instead,” junior Jim Stack said. “Anyone can donate money, but it takes time and dedication to grow your hair and donate it.”
Locks of Love President Gisel Roco, said that many people donate to the organization and that they’re in need of hair as they turn down 150 out of the 200 applicants who request for wigs.
“The wig made all the difference in the world to Jasmine, our daughter,” Holly Stack, mother of Jim and Jasmine Stack said.
From reports from her mother, Jasmine was embarrassed to leave the house when she lost her hair and was depressed. Jasmine “came alive” when she got her wig and two months later received a clean bill of health.
“I can’t comment on this issue,” School Board president Bill Valdez said. According to Valdez, he was relieved from being a close family friend but replied no comment on the subject of Stack’s request.
“He was so upset when his sister was diagnosed with cancer,” Student Council President Gilbert Castillo said. “He told me he felt hopeless throughout the whole ordeal. He didn’t think there was any way to help. Now, he can.” Castillo said.
Stack’s became supported by the student council wrote a letter to the school board in support of him with signatures of 350 students and students willing to grow their hair out, 78 out of 150 being males, for Locks of Love.
“Rules were made to be broken, and this is a very good reason to break one.” Castillo said.