Fife High School’s FCCLA is making a difference

By: Alyssa Haworth

On April 13, 2017, Fife High School’s FCCLA (Family, Career, Community Leaders of America) Club visited the Seattle Children’s Hospital. I, a current senior, have always heard about this facility through some friends of mine but I have never actually been inside. This experience was unique to other field trips I have been on because it opened my eyes to something outside of the learning curriculum. Our tour guide walked us through various floors and each floor is special towards a different situation that a child or young adult might be in. The Seattle Children’s Hospital is a temporary home to families not only in Washington State, but also Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Alaska. This hospital accommodates to children and young adults of all different kinds of interests with a swimming pool, a balcony with a nice and comfortable plaza, a play toy indoors and outdoors, a Starbucks, as well as showers and beds for families and friends to keep company for as long as they need to.

As I stated earlier, this field trip was not related towards a certain subject in school, but it related towards what FCCLA is all about– giving back. FCCLA partnered with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals to host a balloon drive towards the end of January with the goal to reach 600 balloons. These paper balloons represent $1.00 that a person, any person, donated… our club sold over 700 balloons. All of this money donated goes to this hospital so that they can afford not only new medicines and equipment but also new things here and there to make it feel more like home.

Anything donated, whether it be pj’s, movies, books, or anything that would make children and young adults happy, truly does make all the difference in the world. It is one thing to hear about something but it is a whole different thing to actually see it. This field trip opened my eyes to physically see where these donations go to and how much better these children and young adults are because of it.

Seattle Children’s Hospital is an absolutely wonderful place with the most caring faculty to make it even better. These wonderful children, young adults, and families no longer have to fear the situation they might be in because of the generous people from all over and the safety and care provided that works toward the healing process.

Thank you @fifehighschool for raising over $700 for @seattlechildren Hospital and donating over 150 pairs of pajamas #ForTheKids pic.twitter.com/oZsOEdnitX

— Bryan Vlok (@CMN_Bryan) April 13, 2017