School: Horace Greeley High School
Grade: 9th
Who Inspires Me: My parents
On March 25th HLF Young Ambassador, Alexa Potack, organized a dog walk-fundraiser at Gedney Park in Chappaqua, NY. She raised an impressive $5,170 in total and has chosen donate it directly to HLF.
Alexa says she knew that many of the pet owners walked their dogs in the park on weekend mornings, so she thought that hosting an event there would attract many people. She was also positive that she would be able to raise money from people she did not know, who just happened to be at the park.
The majority of the money she ended up raising came from before the event. She set up a table outside Starbucks to sell raffle tickets on the weekend prior to the event and raised $400 from the raffle tickets alone. She also created an online donation page so that people who could not attend still would be able to contribute. This donation page helped her raise over $3,000!
To spread awareness about the event she created a flyer and mainly used social media, talked to and emailed friends, family and classmates. But she also said that going to Starbucks to promote and sell raffle tickets was very helpful in bringing attention to the walk.
Leading up to the event Alexa’s family helped her to prepare by bagging dog treats and picking up refreshments from the donors.
Alexa concludes “Overall, I was surprised by how supportive my community was of my project. I did expect support but I was overwhelmed by how many of my donations came from people I did not know. Originally I had a goal of $1,500 but at the end I raised three times that. Planning and hosting the walk was empowering to me because I learned that people can make a huge difference in their communities no matter what age they are. I really enjoyed doing my project and I hope to do many more in the future.”
