Friday, November 1, 2024

Tabb High School band making a positive change, one step at a time

Tabb HS shoe collection drive
Tabb High School band students load a truck with used and new shoes following their 2020 shoe collection drive (WYDaily/Courtesy of Rachelle Eckman)

Giving back to the community is not something new for the members of York County’s Tabb High School (THS) band program.

For the second year in a row, the band is collecting new and used pairs of shoes to support “micro-entrepreneurs” in third world countries.

Now through April 30, the band is collecting shoes in partnership with Funds2Orgs, a for-profit organization that works as an intermediary between organizations who are in need of fundraising and small business owners (or “micro-entrepreneurs”) in third world countries looking to sell the donated stock of new and used footwear.

Funds2Orgs gives 40 cents for every pound of shoes that students collect, said Rachelle Eckman, vice president of fundraising for the Tabb High School Band Boosters.

The shoe drive is one of many community service projects that members of the band participate in.

THS Band Director, Benjamin Lawson, said that this year, his students have held a canned food drive, a sock and coat collection, as well as collecting newborn items. He added that there was a great deal of success in each of these initiatives.

“It makes me immensely proud to see our students and booster organization working so hard to create positive change in the community,” Lawson wrote in an email on Thursday, March 5.

With the money received through this fundraiser, the band hopes to install a garage-style door from the band room to the outside.

“Right now, it’s just a regular door and getting instruments in and out can be difficult and hard,” Eckman said in an email on Thursday, March 4.

Funds2Orgs, which was founded in 2013, saw the advantage of developing partnerships between organizations reliant upon fundraising and micro-entrepreneurs in third world nations in need of stock, said Kristy Fontelera, vice president of marketing for Funds2Orgs.

“Our shoe drive fundraisers allow groups to raise money without asking their supporters to open their wallets,” said Fontelera in an email on Thursday, March 5. “Instead, supporters can clean out their closets of gently worn, used and new shoes.”

Last year, the band members and the band boosters organization gathered 4,125 pairs of shoes.

For Lawson, it is all about seeing the good work his students are doing in our community. Both the band students and the boosters organization hope to continue to add more initiatives to continue to emphasize the value of making a positive change in the world.

“This is especially true this year, when we are all in need of some positivity!” he added.

If you would like to donate your new or used shoes, residents can drop them off in bins set up at the side entrance of Tabb High School located on 4431 Big Bethel Road.

You can also call Rachelle Eckman at 210-850-6806 to arrange for a no contact porch pick up.

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