Stockton – Here at Lincoln we support everyone and everything.  In the month of November, it is national diabetes awareness month.  The outreach committee here at Lincoln is holding a fundraiser, in which a payment of two dollars permits the dumping of an ice-cold bucket of water on a staff member.  The president of the outreach committee, Brenden Davis, says “The purpose of the outreach committee is to reach out to students and staff members here at Lincoln, our job is to ensure that everyone is heard and has a great school year”.  The two volunteers for this were a math teacher, Mr. Garcia and a well-known campus supervisor, Bubba.  These two staff members were dumped with cups of ice water.  As this event was happening, there were blue ribbons being handed out as a symbol of diabetes awareness.  A box sat at a table and peers who came to watch the two staff members being dunked with ice-cold water, could also drop off experiences with diabetes.  The box began to fill with experiences.

On this particular day of the week, it happened to be the coldest.  The two staff members suddenly regretted their choice of becoming volunteers.  As the students came in one by one, the colder the staff members became.  As the water was being dumped, you could hear Mr. Garcia’s sounds of complaint.  Although it wasn’t just Mr. Garcia who  made noise, campus supervisor Bubba wasn’t thrilled to be in that position either.  This event went on for the entire lunch. Soaked, the staff members were shivering.  Ice cubes and water filled the floor under the gazebo, even though it was freezing for them, the smiles on their faces never left.  I asked the president what was the cause of this fundraiser.  Davis says “I noticed not a lot of recognition is directed towards people with diabetes.  The outreach committee decided we wanted them to be heard”.  

This is the whole purpose of the outreach committee, it is to make sure some events that could be possibly overlooked are highlighted. Blue ribbons were passed out inviting more to come and see the action.  The president made the announcement that the dunking action was free.  Turns out that they didn’t need the money after all.  What a turn, this announcement only made it even more tempting to plunge the staff members.  This outreach committee has big goals, nothing but great things come from them.  I wondered what Brenden Davis wanted to accomplish as the president.  What were his goals? Davis replies “ I want to make sure that committee members, USB members, staff members and students all feel included, to feel like they have an importance here”.  Brenden Davis doesn’t have any connection with diabetes. Despite this, he knows people who do.  Davis wanted those who feel left out to know that they aren’t.  This lunchtime activity was simply to raise awareness and make everyone feel included.