Students Walk From Evanston To Highland Park For Charity

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Students from Highland Park High School spent their Presidents' Day holiday this year walking 13 miles as part of a student-led charity fundraiser.

This year's HPHS Charity Drive is supporting Rainbows for All Children, an Evanston-based nonprofit focused on providing support for young people navigating trauma or loss through peer-support group programs and other services.

“It was a lovely day for a stroll," said Teddy Zinox, one of the students who took part in the walk. "We started in snow, wind and ice and finished in sunshine, slush and one final little snow flurry."

Teacher Kunal Pujara led the group from Rainbows for All Children's downtown Evanston headquarters to Highland Park starting around 9 a.m. Monday. The students took part in the walk out of appreciation for work done by the organization's staff on a daily basis and out of "intrinsic desire to help," he said.

"I was really excited to visit Rainbows’ headquarters because I’ve been to Evanston a lot, but I didn’t know where Rainbows was. It was awesome to see where the staff does all the amazing things they do every day,” said freshman Zach Freed.

"All eight students felt good about what they accomplished and about fundraising for such a wonderful organization," Pujara said after the walk.

None of the students had taken part in a half-marathon walk or run before, according to Stephanie Garrity, executive director of Rainbows for All Children. She said the group and the children it supports have been made "healthier and happier" with the support of the high school's community.

During the walk, Garrity said she watched as the sense of accomplishment grow among the students with each mile as they "chatted about life, guitar lessons and physics." (Pujara, a 2019 finalist for a Golden Apple teaching award, teaches physics at HPHS)

"Once we reached Glencoe, I knew where we were and so the walk seemed to go faster," Freed said.

For the past 26 years, HPHS students have selected a single nonprofit organization based in the community and focused on young people to support during its charity drive. The efforts have raised millions of dollars toward Chicagoland children in need, according to Rainbows.

“Nothing makes my heart happier than to see kids working to support and impact other kids in positive ways. To have Highland Park students deliberately choose to help children who struggle with the incredibly difficult issues of grief and loss is personally fulfilling for me as a community member,” Garrity said.

The funds raised through the 2019 drive, which kicked off Feb. 2, will help provide free peer support services to youth experiencing loss, such as the death, deployment, diagnosis, detention or divorce of a loved one, according to Garrity.

More community fundraising events are planned throughout the month. Members of the public can pledge donations online on behalf of Pujara and the students.