Disaster triggers action in other states

A tornado spawned from a brutal storm hit Enterprise High School in southeastern Alabama this past March, as if, according to news reports, “there was a bulls-eye on its roof.” The twister lasted just 30 seconds, but destroyed the building and killed eight teenagers.

McNeel Builders Club members make patchwork quilts for shelters for the homeless. The activity is one of many the club has done to help the less fortunate.

The loss to the community was huge and was felt 800 miles away in Beloit, Wisconsin. There, the McNeel Middle School Builders Club threw a spaghetti dinner and silent auction, raising more than US$2,100 to buy musical instruments and physical education equipment for the Alabama school.

“The kids enjoy helping others and deciding which service projects they want to do,” says Nancy Wenger, the club’s advisor. “It makes them feel empowered.”

The fundraiser was not the Builders Club’s first act of caring. Since forming about a year and a half ago, the club has made patchwork quilts for shelters for homeless people, organized a penny war, and sold concessions to raise money for the Rock County Humane Society and the Ronald McDonald House of Milwaukee.

The spaghetti dinner was not the club’s first, either. The club hosted a similar event soon after it was formed, raising $2,000 for the family of a fellow student who was killed in a fire.