SPREADING THE NET
Holy Names students’ fundraising efforts to be featured on CBC show
A few months ago, 17-year-old Angela Hormiz didn’t know about Rick Mercer or malaria.
Now she and classmate Gabby Botica, who helped raise money to buy hundreds of mosquito nets to ward off malaria in Africa, are going to meet the Canadian comedian and be on CBC’s Rick Mercer Report. Mercer announced Holy Names Catholic High School was one of the winning schools of his Spread the Net Student Challenge Tuesday and he’ll visit the south Windsor school the week of March 19.
“I was freaking out,” Hormiz said Wednesday of watching video of the announcement on the show. “I was shaking as I was recording the video. We’re very excited.” The pair spearheaded the effort that raised more than $2,500 and they hope to boost that total for Mercer’s visit. The school will be one of a few featured during its April 3 broadcast.
The two Grade 12 students found out Monday when they were called to the principal’s office. They didn’t know it was going to be good news. “I was shocked,” said Botica. “I was more in shock and she (Hormiz) was more like thrilled, like jumping out of the chair. I was just trying to process it all because it’s a huge deal for our school.” Mercer and Belinda Stronach started the Spread the Net Student Challenge in 2006 and the top-fundraising elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools get a visit from Mercer and appear on an episode of the Rick Mercer Report. So far students have raised $2 million.
Botica said malaria kills more than a half-million people a year and is the No. 1 cause of death for children under age five in Africa. Each bed net costs $10 and can save up to three people for three years, she said.
The school’s fundraising means hundreds of people could be saved from malaria, Hormiz said. “I didn’t know what malaria was,” Hormiz said. “I didn’t even know who Rick Mercer was.” She’s glad they can help people they will never meet and who will never be able to return the favour, which puts into practice a principle from their faith. Teachers got involved with the fundraising and students, who wear uniforms, donated on dressdown days.
The Grade 12 students got the idea from their religion teacher Luis Alvirez, a huge Mercer fan. The idea for their final project was to put their faith in action and hold a can drive, volunteer or, as Alvirez suggested, try to raise money in the Spread the Net challenge. The Rick Mercer Report is recording its final shows, so it was the last chance for the school to be part of the challenge, Alvirez said. “I use the word shappy. Shappy is shocked and happy,” he said of hearing the news from producers. It’s a chance for the school of more than 1,300 students to show its heart on national television. The school raises tens of thousands of dollars a year for charities. Stephen Fields, the communications co-ordinator for the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, said staff and students were thrilled Wednesday to hear Mercer is coming. “That’s huge. The guy is a national icon.”
The other winning schools that will receive a Mercer visit and be on the April 3 show are Stewarttown Middle School in Georgetown, Ont., and Dalhousie University in Halifax. Honourable mention went to Kincardine District Secondary School.