The local Barnes and Noble seems to have become a hotspot for school fundraisers this holiday season, as this week has a full schedule of gift wrapping and other fundraisers run by the programs at Wiregrass Ranch. On Wednesday, December 14th, the chorus was wrapping gifts from 10am to 10pm by the main doors of Barnes and Noble.

“It was a long time,” said  senior Gina Toscano. “But my friends were there with me, so it wasn’t boring.”

The fundraiser was a voluntary event, so any student who couldn’t be there didn’t get marked down for it.

“I wanted to go,” said freshman Lauren Anderson,  “And I would have if I had the time. I was just really busy after school.”

The students who could and did attend got volunteer hours for being there. Sophomore Shannon Keim definitely enjoyed her involvement.

“I’m glad I had the opportunity to do something fun and get volunteer hours at the same time,” she said.

The students definitely earned those hours when they were wrapping gifts, considering the amount of people and presents they saw. Though they were gift-wrapping last week, this time was more interesting, according to Chorus teacher Solangi Santiago.

“It was mostly calm last week,” Santiago said. “But this week there were a lot of people. Our
hands kept busy.”

The fundraiser definitely did its job though, raising over two hundred dollars. Santiago said it was very successful.

“It was our first time doing the fundraiser,” Santiago said, “We definitely raised a lot, especially since we didn’t have a set goal.”

The amount of money raised is considerable given that the students offered their gift wrapping services for free, and any funds given to them was by donation – and the donations were usually minimal, typically a single dollar.

“I didn’t expect to raise that much,” said Junior Shannah Ramos. “I had hoped to, but that was kind of optimistic, so I’m really happy about the results.”

Gallery • 3 Photos

The volunteers who wrapped gifts.