Glendale High club beats fundraising goal to help local children and prepares for spring event
Several residents in Glendale and beyond were in a giving mood during the past holiday season as the Adopt-A-Family Club, led by Glendale High School senior Jamie Fritz, surpassed its $2,000 fundraising goal.
Fritz and the club raised $2,025 through a GoFundMe page. Two additional donors, one of whom came to the school and asked to speak with Fritz, wrote checks upping total donations to about $2,600 after the Dec. 13 campaign deadline.
Ten children, with a cap of $200 each, received the presents, toys, coats and gift cards on their wish lists.
“We got a lot of clothes this year,” Fritz said.
One of the highlights was searching for Fritz’s favorite Dr. Seuss books at Barnes & Noble for a child who has an excelled reading level and wanted books.
Volunteer Lisa Salomon works with social workers from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Families to create a list of names, ages and gift lists to the club. The high school students shopped, spent a day wrapping gifts in their club adviser’s classroom and hauled the presents to Fritz’s home.
Then, Salomon helped deliver the presents to social workers who brought the gifts to the children.
Fritz started the Adopt-A-Family Club in 2018 with a $1,000 holiday fundraising goal, which was surpassed. Although she is set to graduate from Glendale High this coming spring, the club’s legacy will live on.
“It was amazing to see how it grew. I’m so sad. I’m a senior and I’m leaving, but I’ve been mentoring a student, a junior at Glendale High, and he’ll be taking over the club,” said Fritz, adding that Colm Daly will lead the club after she leaves.
Also, students at Crescenta Valley High have reached out to her about starting a similar club at their school.
As for Fritz, she wants to be a nurse practitioner in pediatrics and is waiting for responses from universities.
“I love working with kids. I have done an internship at a children’s hospital and just the impact and the connections with these children and families — that’s unmatchable in any career,” said Fritz.
The club held an event this past spring before Easter — making baskets and buying toys for children. Club members plan to use the leftover money from the winter holiday fundraising to make this year’s spring event bigger. They’re also continuing to raise funds by selling quesadillas at Glendale High.
“I wish I could do this forever, and I will find ways to keep doing this. It has carved the path for my career and forced me to do what I want to do in my life,” Fritz said.
