Oostburg High School group raises fund for Haiti relief

Oostburg High School students – led by Jenny Kuffel, Nathan Prinsen, Amanda Launer and Damon Wenig – raised more than $3,756 for Haiti relief. The Business Network International-Misner Foundation will match that amount for a total of more than $7,512 to be sent to the American Red Cross for Haiti Relief.

First, the Oostburg students started a grassroots effort by putting donation buckets in each homeroom. Each dollar earned a raffle ticket for local restaurant(s) gift certificates. The homeroom with the most amount of money raised at the end of four weeks won a pizza party, donated by Pizza Ranch.

The procedure was similar for each elementary school class, but the raffle winner would get to be principal for the day.

High school students also organized a basketball fundraiser game called “Hoops for Haiti” with the help of Ms. Immel's business class; organized a bake sale that was held Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; and made a final donation request at a recent basketball game versus Sheboygan Lutheran.

Meanwhile Pam Wittneben, a director for Business Network International (BNI), heard about the students’ fundraising efforts from a flier she received in her second-grade son's folder. As a volunteer for the BNI-Misner Foundation, she knew the foundation was also raising money for Haiti relief that would be sent directly to the American Red Cross.

At that time, the BNI Foundation had set a challenge to their members that when the donation pool designated for Haiti reached $10,000, the foundation would match the pool, thereby doubling the total donations sent to Haiti. Unfortunately, by the time Wittneben connected the two efforts, the BNI $10K drive had almost reached capacity.

So, Wittneben contacted the foundation's founders and administrator, Ivan and Beth Misner, who were very impressed and inspired by the high-schoolers' efforts. They agreed to match the school’s fundraising efforts above and beyond the $10K pool.