Student Fund-Raiser Is a Wish Come True

At their annual jog-a-thon to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation, Marco Forster Middle School students raised $13,400, the largest amount ever contributed by an Orange County school to Make-A-Wish’s Kids Giving to Kids program, officials said.

“They were really in disbelief,” teacher Luis Torres said of the students. “They’re amazed that so much could be raised.”

The event is a school community service project that students started last year. Torres said they selected Make-A-Wish over other nonprofit groups because “students thought it was really a worthwhile organization.”

Last year’s jog-a-thon raised $6,000, which at the time was the most that a school had donated to Kids Giving to Kids, which was designed so that school-age youngsters can help make the wishes of terminally ill children come true.

This year, Marco Forster students set their fund-raising goal at $8,100. The school, with an enrollment of nearly 1,300, projected that students would raise about $6 each, Torres said. The actual amount was more than $10 apiece.

Fred Johnson, executive director of the Orange County chapter of the organization, said he was amazed that so many teenagers wanted to be involved.

“I’m still in a little shock they could raise all that money,” Johnson said. “It’s absolutely wonderful.”