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Dave Fulkerson, Warsaw Community High School athletic director, will dye his hair orange Friday if the high school and local community can collect 10,000 canned goods for Combined Community Services by Friday's high school convocation.
Fulkerson will dye his hair at the convocation and then wear the orange "Tiger-do" at the game that night against Northridge.
"I think it's for a great cause. (10,000 cans) can feed 130 families for six months," Fulkerson said.
"It's a fun thing to do and I have no problem with it. If that helps raise 10,000 cans of food, then that's not a big sacrifice on my part."
He said he was going to cut his hair off, but after talking to some of the students, he changed his mind.
"Kids would rather see it dyed," he said.
The community can help by bringing cans to the basketball game tonight. Student council will award those who bring in canned goods with a free small soda and popcorn if they bring five or more cans.
The high school freshman class is sponsoring the annual canned food drive as their service project. But instead of a "class" competition, they made the project an all-school initiative and an extension of the Tiger BLITZ, which began in October.
Tiger BLITZ is an effort to build a sense of community within the student body and to promote service. Service and community are part of the focus of the 1998-99 school year for the student council.
"The canned food drive is a worthy cause, and one that everyone can help with. It's fun being part of the Christmas service project and working with everyone else in the school to make it a success," said freshman class president Joe Clevenger.
Students are collecting cans in various ways.
The high school yearbook staff and the newspaper staff are competing against each other with a "can war." Whoever brings in the fewest cans has to treat the winners to doughnuts. The two staffs also have taken on the work of sorting and delivering the cans to CCS daily.
WCHS teacher Dave Baumgartner and his applied communications class are doing promotional announcements daily with the freshman food fact gals, Bill Kovach's theater one class and the cheer squad.
Art classes are in heavy competition over pizza. WCHS teacher Sarah Wappus matches what her students bring in. The band has put out an all-call to parents to bring cans to the band concert Tuesday. WCHS teacher Brenda Irvine will bring breakfast for her class if they meet their goal.
A dance will be held in the cafeteria after the game tonight. The cost is $2 per student and proceeds go to the food drive.
And these are just a few examples of how students and teachers have pitched in to help.
Students and the community are encouraged to donate seven or more cans. A $2 donation or more is also accepted. The money will be used to shop for more food to donate to CCS.
Students have collected approximately 5,000 cans so far.
They hope to collect another 5,000 in the next week to see Fulkerson sport his new "Tiger-do."
