Teens get a lesson in caring Two Preble High School teenagers helped raise more than $2,000 for a local domestic violence shelter By Monique Balas News-Chronicle Preble High School seniors Kristen Mathys and Destree Hafeman have learned some of their most important lessons outside of the classroom. As part of what they named the "Golden Rule Project," the two are wrapping up a four-month long campaign for which they raised more than $2,000 to benefit the Golden House Family Violence Center in Green Bay. The fundraiser is part of a project for their marketing club, DECA, but Mathys and Hafeman emphasized the project's goal is important to them personally. "We chose the center because most of its money and funding come from public donations," said Hafeman, the club's vice president. "Also, it has really strict confidentiality and not many people in Green Bay know about it." Doing it through a school club just made it easier. 'Without the support of our DECA chapter, I don't think it would have been nearly as successful as it was," said Mathys, Preble's DECA president. (Club advisor Mark Bonetti pointed out that DECA used to stand for "Distributive Education Club of America" but now just goes by its acronym, since most people do not associate the word "distributive" with marketing). To get the donations, Mathys and Hafeman began their campaign in October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. They started by writing to local businesses to request monetary and product donations but were not very successful. "It was really discouraging," Mathys said. "We weren't really expecting a lot, but we sent out 150 letters and only received five or six donations." When they saw that wasn't working, the two put their heads together and came up with the idea for a "red bag fundraiser," where they placed bags outside of their neighbors' front doors. They included a note explaining what they were doing and the types of things they would need. The two put the bags out on a Friday. When they picked them up Sunday, they found that "many people had donated more objects than would fit in the bag," Hafeman said. Full grocery-store bags often accompanied the red bags, also filled to capacity, she said. "The red bag (fundraiser) was amazing," said Mathys, 18. "We were overwhelmed with how much support the community showed for the project." In addition to the bag fundraiser, Mathys and Hafeman organized a school raffle and a silent auction for the teachers. So far, the girls have collected $2,051.63 in personal hygiene products, supplies and monetary donations. However, their project was so successful that money is continuing to flow in, so that number will continue to grow. "These girls did an amazing amount of work for this worthwhile cause, and it's extremely exciting as a teacher for me to see this good work out of my students," said Bonetti, who teaches business and marketing at Preble. Mathys and Hafeman put in about five to 10 hours a week on the project for four months, he said. The donations Mathys and Hafeman made are truly useful, said Tina Gray-Siebers, the center's community and volunteer services coordinator. "Last year, we had 524 people come through the shelter," she said. "We need these things. When people come here, they come here with nothing." Gray-Siebers said it's nice to be able to give the women and children who stay there "something a little extra," such as perfume for the women and extra toys for kids. Bonetti said the Golden Rule Project will be entered into a competition in March. There, DECA students from throughout the state enter their project, selected from one of 14 categories (the Golden Rule Project is from the Civic Consciousness category). Winners from the statewide competition will go to Orlando, Fla., for a national competition. When they go on to college in the fall, Hafeman plans to study business or economics, while Mathys is considering a marketing or business-related career. In addition to the valuable career experience, the girls feel they have gained personally as well. "We really feel good about our project because a lot of seniors are taking time off and slacking, but we wanted to give something back to our community," Mathys said.