BOUTTE, LA – On March 14th, Hahnville High School held a $1 Donation Dress Down Day to raise money for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida.

“We wanted to do something to commemorate the one month anniversary of the tragedy that happened that Stoneman High School in Florida,” HHS Assistant Principal Shawn Heiden explained. “We figured that the best way to get our students involved was to do a dress down day where folks would donate a dollar, and then we would send all those proceeds to the high school to help them rebuild from this tragedy.”

Exactly one month prior, the school in Parkland, Florida suffered a massive shooting which left 17 people dead. Heiden believes the fundraiser was more effective than a walkout.

“We felt that it was certainly more important to honor the lives that were lost in any way that we could,” he told Press Play’s Kaycee Joseph. “If our monetary donation helps that school, then we wanted to focus our attention there rather than civic disobedience or some kind of walk out. What took place was well done, and the students organized it and led it. It was not very disruptive to the learning environment at school, so we were fine with it, but we felt that this was a more appropriate way to go and to allocate our resources.”

All of the proceeds will be sent to the Florida high school as a small donation and none of the money raised will be kept at Hahnville High,

“The money is being totaled up as we speak, and at lunches we’re still continuing to collect money and donations from people all day. The heart of the students, faculty, and staff at this school is genuine,” Heiden explained. “The people at this school always reach out to help others that are going through a hard time. I do think we can do more things in the future, not just for that school, but to raise awareness to the issues that face high schools all across the nation.”

The students were very positive and extremely supportive of this dress down day knowing that the money was for a good cause

“I really like the idea behind it because it’s helping raise money for people that are in need,” Zachary Dominic, who participated in the fundraiser, opined.