The Viper Vibe

Varela gives during the holidays

Friday, December 19, 2008 By Natalie Diaz/Staff Reporter

Clubs and activities dig deep for needy families Since November 3, Felix Varela has been involved in aiding The Possible Dream Foundation. The Possible Dream Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Dr. Michael Giraldi. It is dedicated to improving the lives of mentally and physically challenged people. According to their website, http://www.dreamfoundation.org/ , “the mission of Dream Foundation is to enhance the quality of life for individuals and their families who are battling life-limiting illness.” There is a variety of ways that people can help the dream foundation achieve its goal. Our school for instance, has been collecting various supplies in order to aid this charity and its people. On Saturday, December 6, after collecting the supplies, Activities Director Ms. Felicia Christin, along with her officers and pep squad participants were involved in visiting one of the homes of the Possible Dream Foundation here in Miami to distribute the supplies. They attended the home for over two hours. Once at the home, Ms. Christin and the students were greeted with many smiling faces as they were pleased and surprised to have visitors. Among those visitors was the very special and important Santa Claus. Our students played many games with them, sang Christmas carols, and danced with the individuals of the organization. Aside from this, each student had “adopted” a person and donated Christmas gifts to them. Ms. Christin, along with a few of her officers stressed the intensity of this situation. These individuals range from young children to the elderly with a variety of mental and physical challenges. One of the officers, senior Christine Perez “adopted” a 16 year old child. However, this 16 year old has the mental capacity of a three month old baby, suffers from blindness and is restrained to a wheelchair. “I had already bought movies and toys for her when I researched and found out that she was blind. After finding this out I returned to the store and bought soothing music and lullaby CDs, a book that reads aloud to you, and certain items that a three month old child would need,” she said. Ms. Christin also stressed the importance of charity. She mentioned that she chooses community service projects that will raise students’ awareness of the importance of giving to those who are less fortunate. Her hopes are that in the future these students may develop and teach others the importance of charity work. Whether it is participating in Spooky Shadows, or donating food for the Thanksgiving baskets, children need to learn to give back to the community. “It’s not about the hours, it’s about the charity you contribute,” she said. The majority of the homes’ inhabitants have been adopted by the Giraldi family. However, some parents have not released the proper legal documents to allow their children to be adopted. Out of all of the children and adults at the home, it is sad to say that only one of them has a parent that comes to the home to visit. Therefore, we note the importance of donating to these individuals who did not ask to be in this condition. It is vital for students to realize the importance of charity work. If each student participated, so many lives could be changed for the better. It is compelling to think that our school could be making such a difference. Each day, children at Miami Children’s Hospital are able to forget about their illnesses for a moment with the booklets they receive from our school. Over 30 families were fed on Thanksgiving with the Thanksgiving baskets collected at our school. Even after participating in the event on Saturday, the father of a senior here at Varela, Jamie Hodes, was so touched that he decided to donate 500 pounds of food to The Possible Dream Foundation. This may seem remarkable, yet, as Ms. Christin said “the little things as well as the big things matter, we can always do more.”