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Enloe High School students lead Charity Ball, Better Together dinner to raise funds and build community
Summary
Enloe High School student leaders described a long-running Charity Ball that has raised nearly $2 million over 19 cycles and a Better Together event designed to bring booster groups, students and families together; this year’s Charity Ball raised $186,000 for CASA and supported a local housing project.
Enloe High School students and staff described school-based community-engagement initiatives — a long-running Charity Ball fundraiser and a “Better Together” dinner — that aim both to raise funds for local nonprofits and to increase community connections among students, families and school programs.
Principal and student leaders told the board the Charity Ball, founded by student council members in 2004, has emerged as an annual student-led fundraising tradition. Senior student-body president Malone Bridgers said the event has raised nearly $2 million over 19 fundraising cycles and that, in the most recent season, student fundraisers contributed $186,000 to CASA (an organization addressing homelessness in the county). Bridgers said the donation supported Kings Ridge, a nearby development that the students said will reduce homelessness in the area.
Principal Wood Gardner and PTSA leaders described the Better Together dinner as a deliberate effort to break program silos among athletics, arts, academics and boosters and to create a single community event that showcases the school’s range of activities. The event is intended to engage parents and community members who otherwise participate in separate booster or guild activities and to build broader collective support for student programs.
Board members praised the school’s civic-minded student leadership and asked about continuing the event; school leaders said Better Together will continue and that PTSA and student leaders plan further collaboration on community events and student-led philanthropy.
