Newbrief: Key Club sells sweatshirts to raise money for pediatric funds

posted November 9, 2009

by Jackie Day of Campanile

A wide variety of colorful American Apparel zip hoodies were distributed to Palo Alto High School students by Paly's Division 34-B South Key Club on Monday, Nov. 2, through their first American Apparel hoodie fundraiser.

Selling at $25 per hoodie, the jackets are priced $17 off of the original store price. The American Apparel white stringed jackets were sold in all of the store's available colors with the exception of Peppered Grey, Zinc, Slate and Dark Ash, and in sizes extra small though large. The fundraiser was a success, according to Key Club members.

"All proceeds of the American apparel fundraiser go to Pediatric Trauma Prevention [PTP] and pay for medical supplies specific for children medical equipment," Key Club secretary and senior Sarah Lin said. "This was Paly's first time hosting such a fundraiser and we ended up raising over $4,000 total for PTP with help from the fundraiser."

Although the fundraiser took a long time to organize, Key Club members had a positive outlook on the turnout.

The hoodies were sold from Oct. 12 though Oct. 16 after being publicized through Facebook and club messages sent out by Key Club members through the club's monthly divisional meetings and weekly events.

"People paid for their jackets in advance," Lin said. "Once we had their order, we ordered their jackets from the American Apparel warehouse and received them approximately two weeks after the order was placed."

After raising a significant amount of money due to the popularity of the event, the Paly Key Club plans on holding similar fundraisers in the future.

"I think we should have more time to order the hoodies because a lot of people didn't meet the deadline," Lin said. "Also we should publicize more and earlier because there were a few people who asked about the hoodies while we were distributing."