Ashley Attanucci
Web Manager
Come holiday season, Coppell High School finds itself flooded with charities of all kinds, usually the same charities other high schools in the region are contributing to. This year, Lil Rascals club brought a new charity to the school, called Phillip’s Wish, a local organization founded by a 7-year-old boy based out of Keller that is dedicated to providing warmth to the homeless.
Lil Rascals, a club started last year at the high school that revolves around helping local underprivileged children, decided to introduce Phillip’s wish to CHS as a clothing drive, collecting blankets, coats, scarves, gloves and the like.
The foundation strives to collect funds and used or new clothing to keep the homeless warm during the holidays and holds an event each year that is dedicated to someone, this year’s being dedicated to Coppell’s late Corinne Peters, a 2010 graduate.
“That’s why I brought Phillip’s Wish to Coppell,” said senior Shannon Conrad, founder of Lil Rascals. “I felt that she needed to be remembered by Coppell and the foundation’s dedication to her was not only a way to involve Lil Rascals club but to also involve CHS students to remember her and make a difference.”
The event took place last Saturday, Dec. 11 in the parking lot of Tom Thumb in Keller, featuring guest speakers who spoke of their memories of Peters.
Conrad, who had known Peters for several years, attended the event, but left the speeches up to one of Peters’ best friends, 2010 CHS graduate Ashley Johnson, who had been involved in Lil Rascal’s club and Austin Street Homeless Shelter, but had never heard of Phillip’s Wish.
“Being away at school helps take your mind off things, but returning home makes moving on a lot harder,” Johnson said. “The good thing about the speech I will be giving is that it will be focusing on the funny and light hearted memories we have of Corinne, rather than the depressing topic that made her a headline for so long.”
Though Lil Rascals is not planning on continuing with Phillip’s Wish as they did this year, Coppell High School’s experience with the foundation thus far is helping many cope with Peter’s death through working toward a good cause.
“Even though I didn’t know Corinne as well as Shannon did, I still appreciate being able to participate in the drive,” said senior Emily Fowler, who is vice president of Lil Rascals. “It was cool to see how the event had a dual purpose for the members of Lil Rascals and other people, even graduates, from Coppell.”
CHS students had the opportunity to get involved in the event to help honor Peters’ memory, whether they knew her personally or not. Over 40,000 blankets were collected by the foundation this year in Peters’ name.
The CHS drive ended on Friday, but students and teachers can still bring in gently used winter clothing to sponsor Physics teacher and coach Clint Rushing’s room in B106 until the end of the week.
