“Empower the Future”: Two Students Collect Donations for over 250 Families as part of DECA Event
Fort Bend ISD (November 23, 2024) - Fort Bend ISD’s Shared Dreams program received donations for over 250 families from Austin High School juniors Sahiti Gantasala and Neha Hakeem who collected them at their DECA Community Awareness event on November 23, 2024.
Shared Dreams is an initiative of the District’s Collaborative Communities department that provides short-term assistance to registered students whose needs have been determined by their campus nurse and staff. Through donations like those from the event, Shared Dreams is able to provide students with clothing, food, toiletries and school supplies.
DECA is a not-for-profit career and student technical organization that prepares high school and college students around the world in the fields of finance, hospitality, marketing, and management. Sahiti and Neha are currently competing in the Community Awareness Project event category, which “uses the project management process to raise awareness for a community issue or cause.” The duo used strategies and systems they have learned through DECA and business career and technical education (CTE) classes at Austin to organize several dozen volunteers and even more participants at Pecan Park in the New Territory neighborhood the afternoon of November 26th.
The event also represented Attack Poverty, a nonprofit based in Richmond that aims to “empower” people to attack poverty in their life and communities by strengthening under-resourced communities. Students at Pink Elementary school in Lamar Consolidated ISD who attend You Can Academy (YCA), an afterschool enrichment and support program by the nonprofit and Friends of North Richmond, were able to make care cards and get temporary Attack Poverty tattoos alongside teen volunteers from across the area.
More than 17 bags of donations were brought to the Shared Dreams office, adjacent to the Progressive High School campus. Among the supplies dropped off were books, cans of food, stationery and several laptops.
“We chose Attack Poverty because we volunteer there every week,” Neha said. “We got close with all the kids there and got to know about them.” She and Sahiti are members of Tutorpedia, a club at Austin with the mission of “guaranteeing every kid the right to an education.” Through partnerships, the club gives members the opportunity to volunteer at a multitude of different nonprofits, such as Attack Poverty, that inspire and equip students with the resources they need to be a lifelong learner.
“We are very grateful for all the people that were able to help us achieve our goals and are hoping to empower more people in our future endeavors,” Sahiti said.
Sahiti and Neha are in the process of submitting their outline of the event for the district DECA competition in January. There, they will present it to judges in hopes of advancing to the State Career Development Conference.
All community members are invited to get involved with the Collaborative Communities department however they choose to contribute. Click here to see the variety of different ways you can support and benefit the program.
