Hawks for Humanity helping out

It was a flurry of flyers posted throughout the hallways of Waltham High School and the creation of a group on Facebook.com that educated many students to the formation of a new club: Hawks for Humanity. Senior Lindsay Falone was one of many who were part of the larger than expected turnout at the inaugural meeting of the new community service club.
"I didn’t know much about it before the meeting, but it appealed to me because it seemed like it was a group of kids who just wanted to make a difference," Falone says. "Not many clubs at school actually do anything that benefits the community, so it’s nice to see a group that is making an effort to do so."
That exactly is the goal of the club’s creators, juniors Mike Graceffa, Ryan MacPherson, and Shannon McGrattan.  "We wanted to plan a club that didn’t benefit ourselves, but helped out the world and the community," explains Graceffa.  "There are so many organizations and people less fortunate than us, and we wanted to help something else besides just our school.  There are people out in the world that need help and people in our school willing and wanting to help them.  This club lets them do that."
According to the club’s Facebook group page, Hawks for Humanity is a way "to get our classmates involved in something in the school that makes a difference. Over the course of the year we will have a number of fundraisers that are fun and will go to the charity that the members of the club will choose at the first meeting," which was held September 14th.
The agenda at the first meeting, which Falone estimates rallied "about forty to forty-five" eager volunteers, was simply to explain their purpose and lay the foundation for what looks to be a promising organization. Those who attended were given "a list of organizations that the money that we raise will benefit. We all voted on an organization as well as contributed ideas for fundraising," reports Falone.  The inaugural charity selected democratically by Hawks for Humanity members is the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
The founding triumvirate has big hopes for their club and is not wasting any time getting started.  When their plans for a car wash had to be canceled because they could not find a place to host it, Hawks for Humanity still put that September weekend to good use.  Quick thinking and some good recipes enabled the group to raise $250 selling baked goods at a Waltham High football game, which speaks to the initiative of this proactive trio. "I think they're doing an excellent job and seem like they are very dedicated," Falone says.
"Ideally we would like to raise money by having fun," says Graceffa.  "We want to plan and host fun events that are fundraisers at the same time.  The more awesome the fundraisers are, the more money we will have to donate at the end of the year."
So far they’re off to a great start.  Graceffa reports that there have been at least 30 members at every meeting held so far, which is no small feat.  Guided by second year math teacher Mr. Marc Smith, the big three are now looking to add more officers to the chain of command.  By creating sub-groups that can navigate certain issues within the club, thus best utilizing their members’ strengths, the hope is that Hawks for Humanity will be able to draw interest from a greater variety of people.  None of this, however, would be possible without the superb teamwork and communication of Graceffa, MacPherson, and McGrattan.
"The three of us have a good fusion together," Graceffa reports.  "Together we have so many interpretations on things.  We’re three totally different people, which allows us to branch out more."
Overall, Falone says she is "impressed with the amount of people who showed up at the meeting. It shows that people really do care about big issues. I think that we will be very successful and that the whole idea of the group is great. It's about time that a club is formed that will actually make a difference."