D228 Students raise over $1,000 for teacher with son fighting cancer

TINLEY PARK, IL - On Wednesday, March 15, a group of FCCLA students from Bremen High School District 228 participated in an event at the Tinley Park Roller Rink for their annual service project fundraiser.

This year, the FCCLA students raised money and donated the funds to current teacher and DECA sponsor, Katie Gomez and her 10-year-old son Jay, who is fighting Leukemia. Through the annual fundraiser event, students were able to raise over $1,000 for the family.

"Every fall each FCCLA coordinator gets together and we decide what cause we’d like to donate the funds to. Around the time we had this annual meeting is when Jay was diagnosed with Leukemia," said Kristina Blair FCCLA coordinator at Oak Forest High School. "So we started planning the fundraiser in the fall, and students began raising money in January. Katie is one of our own, and we knew we had to help support her in any way possible."

The Tinley Park Roller Rink generously donated the space for the event. The nearly 70 students from all four buildings gathered by wearing shirts that read “Jay’s Fight is Our Fight,” skating around and enjoying treats.

"Everybody here is here by choice because they want to help. These kids from all four schools are amazing, and absolutely wanted to help," Blair said.

About Bremen High School District 228`
Bremen High School District 228 is located in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and serves the communities of Midlothian, Posen, Tinley Park, Markham, Hazel Crest, Country Club Hills and Oak Forest. District 228 serves over 5,000 students and employs 800 full and part-time staff members. Bremen High School, in Midlothian, opened its doors to students in September of 1953. Since then, District 228 opened three additional schools. Tinley Park High School opened in 1961; Hillcrest High School, in Country Club Hills, opened in 1967; and Oak Forest High School opened in 1970. For more information, please visit https://www.bhsd228.com/