MVHS plans to hold a fundraiser to provide aid to victims of the Northern California wildfires at the football game against Los Altos this Saturday at one o’clock. MVHS is requesting that people bring diapers and toiletries to the game. Those who bring donations will be offered free admittance, according to ASB Activities advisor Carson Rietveld.
This event is part of a district-wide fundraiser, including LAHS and Alta Vista High School, to aid those affected by the wildfires.
“We hope that a lot of families come,” Rietveld said.
With the wildfires in close proximity to Mountain View, many students have been directly impacted, especially if they know people in the affected area. The fires have destroyed over 8,400 structures, including many in the neighborhood that social studies teacher Jamaica Kreps grew up in. Although her family in Santa Rosa was unharmed, some of the buildings that she spent her childhood in were destroyed by the fire.
“Many of my childhood places are gone,” Kreps said. “Our performing arts center, every play and performance I did, was completely gone.”
As another effect of the wildfires, many students and faculty noticed the smoke lingering over Mountain View and the rest of the Bay Area. Kreps said many of her students were telling her how hard it was to breathe.
Rietveld said that the donations will be sent to and managed by an organization that is currently working to provide resources to the affected areas and families. ASB and faculty members from LAHS and MVHS will be running the fundraiser at the football game.
“The idea is to give the organization as much as we can to help,” Rietveld said.