Oakton High School Helps Hurricane Victims
On September 24th of last year Hurricane Rita slammed into Cameron Parish, Louisiana with a 32 foot tidal wave destroying four of the six schools in the district. The other two schools were opened within 24 hours of the devastation with students from all six schools rotating to take classes. As of December 19th the school district had 74% of its student back in school. With most of the relief effort and focus going to New Orleans one Louisiana native saw first hand that the towns all around the area were in need of help, especially the Cameron Parish area.
“The poverty level of this community is similar to New Orleans,” says Cindy Burbach, “The area was almost completely destroyed.”
Cindy Burbach is the ‘Team Mom’ for the Oakton Cougars’ girls’ basketball team and the real mom of senior Lauren Burbach. Cindy Burbach is a native of Southwest Louisiana and felt compelled to help out her home area.
“Our goal is to give all the gate proceeds to the last game of the year to a fundraiser,” says Burbach,” We are going to work with other schools in the area, our goal is to fill the gyms.”
Burbach immediately started to organize this event with the help of parents and other Oakton High School staff. Oakton challenged other high schools in the area to have the same fundraiser on February 10th and these schools met that challenge. Robinson, Herndon, Chantilly, Westfield, and Fairfax High schools all agreed to participate in this fundraiser.
The fundraiser was not just limited to gate proceeds. The schools were organizing three-point contests, raffles, and any other donations that were to be accepted at the door. With all of these schools involved the goal of filling the gyms was nearing reality.
“These kids are sitting on floors down there,” says Burbach, “It is more important to have books and papers, the superintendent is working in a horse trailer, and it doesn’t matter as long as the kids have books and supplies.”
Burbach started her relief effort earlier with a fundraiser organized with the girls’ volleyball team. She personally brought the money to Louisiana and saw the destruction first hand.
“The level of destruction was unbelievable,” says Burbach, “It was just amazing that 24 days after the storm hit, schools were opened even if it was 50 miles away.”
Burbach’s efforts were well rewarded for the Cameron Parish school district. The Concorde District Basketball Programs raised nearly $17,000 to assist the Louisiana school district. This effort was led by Oakton High School, which donated the entire proceeds from their final home game against the Centreville Wildcats. Each player on the team made an effort to bring 10 people to the game. This resulted in “The Cougar Den” reaching its max capacity, a possible Lady Cougars attendance record. This sellout raised $4,000 in gate proceeds and added another $1100 with sales from concession stands. A three-point contest raised another $200 for the cause. But perhaps the most generous donor will remain a mystery. There was a $10,000 donation left by an anonymous person that really pushed the fundraiser over the top, with Oakton alone bringing in $15,000. The other high schools raised an additional $1800 with the use of donation boxes outside the gates for their last games.
“The Principals and DSA’s of the Concorde District as well as the community members really stepped up in this effort,” says Burbach. Burbach coordinated with the Concorde District schools and led the effort at Oakton, which resulted in a tremendous outpouring of generosity. She did so with the encouragement and blessing of Oakton Principal Dr. John Banbury and DSA Phil Levine, who approached the other Principals and DSA’s for their support and were overwhelmed by the spirit of cooperation.
“Everyone has been so generous,” says Burbach, “This will make a big difference in the lives of school children in this rural parish in southwest Louisiana.”
