Friday, January 29th, the Interact Club held its annual blood drive at MiltonHigh School. With the stricter rules this year and the shorter schedule the club was still able to sponsor a very successful blood drive. While 193 students showed up to donate, 136 students were accepted and were able to give a pint of blood. The Alpharetta Rotary Club donated cheese and crackers for the event.
In addition, the Club collected seven cases of canned goods as a contribution toward earthquake relief in Haiti. This was subsequently delivered to Fulton County Charities and the Alpharetta Rotary Club in turn donated equivalent funds for shelter boxes in Haiti.
The Interact Club is also raising funds, as they do every year, for their chosen International project in Columbia. They are raising money for an impoverished school in Barranquilla, Columbia. The "Por Amor A" school is a K-6 program and this year the Club is raising money for Kindergarten school supplies. While many of these students go without breakfast and even shoes, the Club is trying at the present time to raise money for such school supplies as: colored pencils, regular pencils, markers, crayons, erasers, rulers, pens, watercolor paints and play dough. They are working through Rotary Clubs in that area to secure heavier materials such as pads and notebooks. In future years they hope to raise money for desks and chairs. In the meantime, they are endeavoring to develop the contacts necessary to make their support direct and meaningful. School is just starting in that area as the seasons are of course reversed so the club hopes to send the supplies as soon as possible. Toward that end, if we can pass the hat at this coming Rotary meeting for hopefully a buck from each member, that will go a long way toward buying and shipping the planned materials. The members of the club have researched sources for the materials they planned to send.
The elected officers of the club plan to attend the District Interact meeting February 27th at RiverwoodHigh School. The Interact Club is an active and enthusiastic group with some 30 members and is very involved in the service programs of MiltonHigh School. During the blood drive over 20 students acted as hall monitors and promoters as well as serving in the small gymnasium to assist the Red Cross.