Students from the school might wonder why StuCo changed Wish Week to Outreach week.  For the students that do not know, Student Body President Madison Morgan explains Wish Week: “Wish week was an event that we did for 10 years with the Make-A-Wish foundation. Basically we pack a week full of different events to help fundraise. We would get a kid to fundraise for.”                                   

 Not only did the name change, but the foundation for donations changed too, according to Principal Porter: “So what I think happened was that the school district partnered with a different organization.” The new foundation is the Rare Sisters Foundation, a non profit organization and they help a very rare disease. This foundation was created by a family because of their daughters Cecelia and Lilly who where both diagnosed with the disease; however, the foundation’s focus is to help other families. According to the foundation website, “Cecilia and Lilly were diagnosed with CLN3 Batten Disease.  Batten disease is a neurodegenerative disorder.  They are blind, suffer from dementia, experience seizures, are cognitively declining, and are behaviorally challenging. Within a few years, both will suffer from untreatable seizures, mobility loss, increased dementia symptoms, and much more.” 

According StuCo sponsor Lindsey Welsh, “Every year we are planning to chose a new organization to support for Outreach Week. And this year it is the Rare Sisters Foundation.”  There are so many foundations that support great causes like the Mesa Verde Foundation or Brave Young Hearts, which are only two of the over 15 plus organizations in the Westminster and Arvada.

This year, A-West raised over $4400 for the Rare Sisters, as well as bring awareness to our community.