Big, beautiful bouquets to the students and teachers at St. Joseph Catholic School in Cuyahoga Falls for their herculean effort as “Change Bandits” for Akron Children’s Hospital’s Have a Heart, Do Your Part Radio­thon, staged by WKDD radio. It’s the school’s eighth year of involvement.Wow! They’ve certainly been busy.“Every year, I am moved because of the empathy that St. Joseph students have for other kids in the community,” noted Deneen Watson, eighth-grade reading and English teacher.“Each grade collected money. The second-graders wanted to use their change to ‘blanket the world with kindness, starting with the kids in Children’s Hospital,’ so they bought material and made nine blankets. The third-graders had a read-a-thon and raised a huge $1,474 on their own. The fourth- and fifth-graders used their change to purchase 90 stuffed animals, ‘so the kids who are going through a scary hospital experience will have something to hold onto for support!’“Our sixth-grade teacher Martha Huber donates $122 each year, because her then 6-year-old son, Jacob, spent 122 days at Akron Children’s Hospital 12 years ago, after being diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. He is 18 and doing great! “The eighth-graders raised $918.60 on their own, by donating their Christmas, birthday and baby-sitting money. They held lollipop sales and spent their weekends as Change Bandits at basketball games. My own son, Brock, who is in sixth grade this year and has spent his fair share of time in the hospital, gave $88 of his own money.”Drum roll, please.Nearly $4,000, 90 stuffed animals and nine blankets will be delivered to the hospital.In the last four years, the school has raised more than $14,000 for Have a Heart!“Again this year, I have students who have graduated, and still return to donate to our Have a Heart collection,” Watson continued. “I have past students who have started Have a Heart at their high schools. As teachers and parents, we can teach our kids to read and write, but showing kids how to help others is the biggest lesson we can teach. Kids helping kids is what it’s all about!”Major kudos also go to Akron’s St. Sebastian Parish School, which raised $760 for the hospital’s Have a Heart campaign.Students raised money during Catholic Schools Week, purchasing hearts and decorating them with inspirational messages.Mardi Gras GalaVictim Assistance is sponsoring its 20th annual Mardi Gras Gala, its largest fundraiser, 6 to 10 p.m. March 3, at Todaro’s Party Center, 1820 Akron-Peninsula Road, Akron.The festive event (cocktail attire) includes a filet and shrimp dinner, open bar, hors d’oeuvres, live and silent auctions and raffles. Sneak previews of auction items will be updated on Facebook.Make reservations online at www.victimassistanceprogram.org. Tickets are $95 ($51 tax-deductible); register by today and pay $85. For more information, please call 330-376-0040, ext. 201.Volunteers of the Year awards will be presented to Bath Township police Sgt. Michael S. Clar, owner of Terrascape; and Doug Jenney, retired Summit County coroner’s investigator and Akron Police Department Reserves officer. Also, the Bernard I. Rosen Community Service Award will go to Verizon Wireless.Raffle to help patientsThe Kidney Foundation of Summit County is sponsoring its 22nd annual “Hot Dog Reverse Raffle” 6 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Getaway, 1462 N. Portage Path, Akron. Grand prize is $500. Tickets are $20 with all proceeds going to assist Summit County kidney patients. To purchase a ticket or to make a donation, please call Carolyn Henretta at 330-864-1236. Falls team raises fundsMajor kudos to the Cuyahoga Falls High School girls basketball team, which recently hosted the Arcs of Brush High School in the second annual “Lay-Up for Leukemia” benefiting Akron Children’s Hospital and the Falls Cancer Club.The event — organized by Black Tigers basketball players Logan Breehl and Samantha Troxell — raised $1,500 last year for the Falls Cancer Club and the National Children’s Leukemia Foundation, and more than $3,000 this time around.Auction and raffleChrist Child Society of Akron is presenting a New York reverse raffle and auction March 13 at St. George Fellowship Hall, 3204 Ridgewood Road, Copley, with music by Accent. Doors open at 6 p.m. Grand prize is $2,500. The event features food, bar, sideboards, dancing and more. Only 200 tickets are available: raffle ticket and one dinner, $95; raffle ticket and two dinners, $130; raffle ticket alone, $60; dinner alone, $45. You need not be present to win.For more information, please all Jeannette Brewster at 330-666-3570. St. Baldrick’s eventThe Canton chapter of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation — an all-volunteer effort — is as committed as ever to raising money for pediatric cancer research.On March 18, Sue Stevenson, as she’s done for 10 years, will be summoning brave heads to Quaker Steak & Lube, 6073 Dressler Road NW, Jackson Township, for the signature head-shaving event in solidarity with children battling cancer.The Canton event was started in memory of Abbey Foltz, who lost her cancer battle in 2000 at age 19. It will feature a silent auction and raffles, and Quaker Steak & Lube will donate 15 percent of its food sales during the event to the cause.“At last year’s event at Quaker Steak, we shaved 97 heads,” Stevenson said. “Even more exciting is the $52,575 our volunteers raised to find cures for childhood cancer.”Sign up now at http://www.stbaldricks.org/events/cantonohio to be a “shavee” or to make a donation. For more information on St. Baldrick’s, please call 1-888-899-BALD. “Since the [national] foundation’s first grants as an independent charity in 2005, it has funded over $78 million in childhood cancer research,” Stevenson continued.Student retreat in JulyApplications for high school and middle school students wanting to participate in the second annual LEADR (Leadership Education And Development Retreat) — July 16-20 — are being accepted at www.93centsforflight93.orgThe program is part of Sharon Deitrick’s “93 Cents for Flight 93” campaign to complete the monument in Shanksville, Pa., to the passengers and crew aboard Flight 93 who died on 9/11. Katie Hemmer is chair of student leadership for the HALO (Hope Always Lives On) Foundation.Formal dresses neededThe Akron Area YMCA Teen Leaders Club is casting a wide net in hopes of rounding up an ample collection of formal dresses, accessories, jewelry and shoes so area teen girls have the opportunity to experience their homecomings and proms.Those donations will be accepted now through Feb. 29 at all Akron Area YMCA locations for delivery to the East Market Street Church of God for later distribution.Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or emailed at jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com