SPHS Students Raise $900 For The Blue Ribbon Project

Taylor Denton and Anna Childress are Leadership 3 students at Severna Park High School. To fulfill their capstone project, they partnered with the Blue Ribbon Project in Crownsville, a volunteer organization that supports children in foster care who have been abused or neglected. Their project entailed raising $900, assembling five backpacks of love, and volunteering with the organization.

Taylor and Anna chose the Blue Ribbon Project after learning that 4,237 children in Maryland are in foster care. They wanted to do something to make a positive impact on that statistic. “Foster care has always been something that is important to me, so I was excited for the opportunity to get more involved,” Anna said.

The $900 they raised will go directly to the organization as well as buying five backpacks of love to donate to the organization. Often, when a child is taken out of their home because of abuse or neglect, they are left with nothing but the clothes on their back until a police officer shows up with a backpack of love from the Blue Ribbon Project. Inside, the child will find necessities to get them through the next 48 hours in their new home. Those items include clothes, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a hairbrush, as well as an age-appropriate toy and book.

While volunteering with the organization, Taylor and Anna also made an additional six backpacks for a total of 11 to give.

“Getting to see the entire project unfold and the impact it will have on the community makes all the hard work worth it,” Taylor said.