South Brunswick High Schools Helping Hands club is serves their local and school communities through volunteering and service projects. On Friday, April 10, they hosted a movie night with the purpose of raising money towards the Casey Feldman Foundation. During this event, the club came together alongside other attendees to watch The Transformers, enjoy food and refreshments, and play games of bingo. The bingo was based on events happening in the movie–as a scene happened, the applicable boxes were crossed out. There were a total of two winners per round.
More importantly, the event donated all proceeds towards the Casey Feldman Foundation. A few years ago, Joel Feldman, the founder of the organization, came to the club as a guest speaker to explain the purpose of the foundation. Their mission is to spread awareness about the dangers of distracted driving through their sponsored project and serve as a public charity that awards scholarships and gifts. They also look to support animal welfare. The purpose of the foundation and what it roots to accomplish comes from the death of Joel’s daughter, Casey Feldman. When Casey was 21 years old, her life was tragically taken by a distracted driver.
The sponsored project supported by the foundation is known as EndDD.org (End Distracted Driving). Joel Feldman has worked nationwide to spread awareness and keep roads safe. He has given more than 1000 presentations, whether it be at conferences, middle/high schools or colleges. Simultaneously, his network of 125 trained volunteer speakers have spoken to over 525,000 teenagers across the United States.
The Casey Feldman Foundation works to award scholarships and gifts. Their scholarships focus on assisting students with educational expenses. Along with the scholarship, students contribute to a wider community through non-profit work and volunteering. The fundraiser also works to support animal welfare because of Casey Feldman’s love for animals. They are able to give support by sponsoring the kennel Casey adopted many of her pets from. Specifically, the foundation hosts an annual “Cat Spay Day” where animals are able to be treated (spayed/neutered) at a much cheaper cost for the owners. However, this is not the only sponsored event they have hosted. They have done things such as funding elementary field trips and hosting an annual volunteer day of service–all in regards to Casey and keeping roads safe.
SBHS Helping Hands is contributing to the foundation with a program called Champion Schools. Through this program, multiple high schools (including SBHS) and some colleges in New Jersey, are able to help raise awareness about distracted driving–specfically, the consequences of not being careful. Helping Hands movie night event was one of many successful events they have hosted to advocate a cause like Casey Feldman’s Foundation.
