Holmes candy cane sales nets $1,500 for families

Every year, the Holmes Junior High student council sells candy canes during lunch to raise money for Canes for a Cause. Julie Rouse, one of the leaders of the student council, helped run this program these past few weeks. 

According to Rouse, “The money we raise goes directly to Holmes families [in need] for the holiday season.” After the sales are done, the student council purchases Wal-Mart, Target and/or Kohl’s gift cards to assist the families. 

Last year, Holmes students, staff and the Cedar Falls Community Credit Union raised a little over $1,500. This year, however, was different. According to Rouse, “We had three consecutive days where we brought in over $400 a day. [In total], we raised $2,685 in candy cane sales.”

The Holmes Junior High student council members (and sponsors) volunteer their lunch period to run the candy cane booth—usually beginning the second week in December and lasting for one week or more. 

Some of those student council members, like Bela Hafferman and Kevin Du, volunteered so long that they missed their entire lunch period. 

Hafferman helped out on the first day candy canes were sold. She said that “the hardest part was managing four to five people at one time.” There were a lot of different flavors and the volunteers had to hand out the candy canes, so it took a while for everything to be distributed. 

Du went above and beyond, helping out during five of the eight lunch shifts. Du said he enjoyed passing out the candy canes and that it was “an overall fun experience.” Du also said that there weren’t many challenges. “Helping out the stand was fairly laid-back since we always had three people helping out at a given time.” 

For both of the volunteers, it was worth helping out. “The sales profits go to Holmes families in need to support them over the holidays, so that makes up for the lost lunch time,” Du said 

Du said he enjoyed the experience. “I’ll probably participate next year, given my schedule allows for it.”